My Four Kings - Crystal
by Adins
Summary: A full re-write of "My Four Kings" inspired by Sailor Moon Crystal. Join the Shitennou, knights of old, guardians of the Earth, as they struggle to maintain some semblance of sanity in a world that no longer needs them to protect it. Will they be able to find their place in this new status quo, or will their resolve be crushed under the staggering weight of a normal, mundane life?
1. Introduction

Adins Presents

A Totally Unnecessary Re-Write of a Sailor Moon Fanfic that he Never Even Finished

**My Four Kings **_**CRISTAL**_

Oh Lord yes, it's that time again. I know I teased a re-write of "My Four Kings" over two years ago by posting a bogus introduction declaring the story to be "COMPLETE!" without even having started writing it at the time (and there was some mention of muffins as well), but for the first time in, well, _ever_, I'm not actually lying about the state of completion of "My Four Kings _CRISTAL"_ when I say the story is done. All 26 chapters are sitting on my hard drive _right now_. So why not post the whole thing right out of the gate? Why did I only post the first few chapters? Well because when I say it's done I mean there are 26 chapters written all of about 3 paragraphs each…

See this time rather than writing at the speed of thought and getting myself tangled in a more ugly mess of threads than a pair of denim cut-offs, I decided that I would plot the whole thing out FIRST, then go back and, you know, actually write the story. Isn't _that_ a wild idea? I wonder why that particular thought never occurred to me before now. Couldn't possibly be because I resolutely declared that I knew what I was doing the first time around and that making it up as I went along couldn't POSSIBLY be the absolute worst approach to writing a novel-length fanfic. Nope. Admittedly, my approach to the original "My Four Kings" was not sufficient to tell the story I eventually envisioned. Grabbing characters and story ideas, set pieces and scenes and tossing them into a literary food processor to see what came out the other end only worked for so long until one day I forgot to close the lid and made a royal mess of my word kitchen.

But enough about my past failings as a competent storyteller; let's talking about my most recent failing: "My Four Kings _CRISTAL_!" Oh, were to begin? I shall now take questions from the floor of the internet:

**Q. Why are you writing a new version of "My Four Kings?" Why don't you finish the original version? I thought it was going fine! Are you that insecure that you can't even see a self-admitted failure through to completion? The old Adins would say "Screw it! Let's have some more dick jokes!" and just get it done. I thought you were much more charismatic and handsome in those days…**

First off, it should be noted that the original "My Four Kings" started off as crack!fic. I was in college and I was more or less channeling my experiences into the characters of the Shitennou to tell a funny, aimless story about four roommates who couldn't quite get their act together. As we all know the story eventually takes a more serious turn and to be honest it's because it's hard to be funny all the time. But even though this re-write owes a lot to Sailor Moon Crystal, I was very much aware of how super-duper-serious that show tended to be pretty much every episode. So with that in mind, I still intend to be comedy-forward with "My Four Kings _CRISTAL"_ (Henceforth M4KC because OH MY GOD what a stupid title…) but there will be a significantly expanded focus on the main plot arc which is of the rather serious variety. And overall the quality and cohesion of the original story was fairly lacking, mostly because I didn't plan anything and the first major revision I did back in 2013 probably made it worse.

**Q. How exactly does Sailor Moon Crystal influence M4KC? There were a lot of people who hated that show. Am I going to hate this story now? Am I going to hate **_**you? **_**Why are you forcing me into these emotional pockets?**

Well for one Crystal reenergized my interest in Sailor Moon as a whole. You all know I like to pull a disappearing act every few years. I have no excuse; sometimes I just get bored with whatever I'm obsessing over and have to leave it alone for a while. However, seeing the Shitennou again and getting even just the tiniest slivers of new dialogue and personality traits (and those oh-so wonderful and hilarious titles that the Pastel Knights received – "Nephrite, the Knight of Intelligence and Comfort!" HAHA! How the hell does that jive with _my_ booze-swilling socially ineffectual Nephrite?) was enough to kick me into gear. With that in mind, Crystal presents all the characters, not just the Shitennou, as quite a bit more, um, shall we say _subdued_ compared to the way I write them, so I thought it would be fun to see if I could make my versions of the characters fit Crystal's mood. Since Crystal had 26 episodes I decided a good chapter length to shoot for with this re-write would also be 26 and yes, M4KC is more or less divided down the middle at chapter 14 by two specific story arcs. Ain't that a hoot?

Since it's now been announced that Crystal will continue into the Infinity Arc and presumably all the way through Sailor Stars, I'm using the Manga continuity so no more wacky AU and head-scratching as to when or where this story takes place. Also, despite my excitement that Crystal introduced a few new scenes of Shitennou dialogue and showed them all interacting as a team together at one point, I'm well aware of the fact that there wasn't a whole lot of character on display in those moments. For better or worse the Shitennou remain characters one step removed from complete blank slates, so I will continue to go back to the well of the Classic Anime, PGSM, SeraMyu, and certain well-established fanon tropes to flesh out their personalities. Rest assured Nephrite is still the vocal center of most crude humor, but now maybe it's because he's _intelligent_ enough to know that humor eases tension and provides a level of _comfort_ in otherwise painful circumstances.

**Q. Is this a Senshi/Shitennou 4x4 romance fic now that Crystal kinda-sorta made it canon? On that same topic, when people on Tumblr talk about how much they love a certain fictional relationship they sometimes refer to themselves as "trash." Why is that? Isn't love supposed to be beautiful? Or is this some sort of wabi-sabi-esque abstract philosophy about the beauty of imperfection and decay? Like that scene in "American Beauty" of the plastic bag dancing in the breeze? Can you please help me? I'm terrified of Tumblr.**

On one hand I'd like it to be a story about the relationships of the Senshi and Shitennou because I know how many people enjoy those stories, but I'm lousy at writing romance for one couple. Five (including Mamoru &amp; Usagi) would be ludicrous. Also, as much as I enjoy reading those kinds of stories, I'm not personally a shipper; mostly because I don't like getting caught up in 'ship wars, but also because I don't think the whole "Miralce-Romance-for-all" angle makes a lot of sense. One predestined magic power couple is a good story. Five of those couples are, uh, nice? But also lazy. Add to that the fact that the only concrete example of what might be considered another truly romantic couple in Crystal is Venus and Kunzite, so yeah; I'm not 100% on board. That being said, I did touch on the majority of the now-canonical pairings in the original "My Four Kings," so that plot point will come up in one form or another.

**Q. I don't have any more questions. I was only told I only needed to prepare three and I don't like to over-achieve. You got anything else, or can I get my gold star and leave now? Man really I hate these meetings…**

Finally, and this one is will definitely be a tough pill to swallow for fans of the original "My Four Kings" (including myself), but to make the reworked plot of the story flow the best way possible, I unfortunately had to remove the character of Ares / William Shatner the Dog. I tried my damndest to make him work, even going so far as to have Helios transform into a dog instead of a Pegasus for some contrived reason (feel free to steal that idea for your own use), but it just wasn't happening. I therefore dedicate this re-write to the memory of that capricious canine. Let it forever be known in the halls of legend that he was, indeed, a good boy.

* * *

So that's about all the nonsense I intend to spout off for the moment and I'm sure everyone still reading is anxious for me to shut the hell up so they can get on with the business of reading about their four favorite misfits again. You know you could just click the button to go on to the first chapter, but I do thank you for reading this far into the introduction anyway. I'm glad I have an audience who appreciates the effort I put into legitimizing my efforts and being a literal apologist of myself.

So if you're new to the story or if you've been here since day one and just want to see how I hacked apart and duct-taped the original back together and cleverly called it a re-write, pull up your VIP seats at the bar, crack open a High Life on the house, and welcome back to the Four Kings Bar &amp; Grill because it's been a long time coming and we all deserve a drink!

Or twenty-six…

-Adins


	2. Chapter One

**CHAPTER ONE**

For all of its uncertainty from the fear of pain, of loss, of separation, and the crushing unknowable void of oblivion, dying wasn't really all that bad, at least from Kunzite's point of view. It had happened in an instant and though he felt a brief moment of what could only be described as his consciousness being torn away from reality, the actual experience of his life ending wasn't that awful. Queen Metalia, for all her malice and wickedness, had merely subjected him and his fellow Kings to a tidal wave of dark energy which crashed down through the halls of the Dark Kingdom, split the earth, turned stone to cinder, and ended it all in a mere moment.

He would have been fine with it, too. At least death was certain; final. He liked certainty and he found comfort in the absolute. In life he wasn't a man to mince words or teeter on some indecisive precipice over even the smallest of decisions. It would have been easy to simply let go and allow his essence to dissolve into the background radiation of the cosmos, but of course things couldn't be that simple for Kunzite. No, before the dark pall of entropy fell there had to occur one final complication to round out a life fraught with conflict and peril. In those moments just before Queen Metalia annihilated his existence with all her hateful power, he remembered...

He remembered Endymion and the reason that he even existed at all. He remembered serving as a knight, an adviser, and a friend. He remembered the Silver Millennium in its glory and in its fall: the demise that he had a hand in engineering. He remembered the vacant promises Queen Beryl spoke through magical manipulation and he remembered the emptiness of his soul when he finally gave himself over to Queen Metalia's power. He remembered the end, the first end, and how he and his fellow knights reawakened and found each other once again in the modern age. He remembered setting out to find their Master and he remembered how Beryl and Metalia found them again, bound them again, and set them against their Master and his allies.

And then he remembered Her.

The scent of her spun-golden hair, the silk of her touch, the music of her laughter, the taste of her lips, the power at her command... Suddenly she was there - right there in front of him - her uniform in tatters, her face streaked with grit and tears. She had done something to him; freed him somehow. His body still thrummed with the energy that had coursed through him, healing him, poured out from hands that could have incinerated him where he stood. After the eons that passed between their lives and the pain of ancient betrayals she was still there, smiling.

"Venus..." was all he managed to gasp.

"Kunzite." was the last earthly sound he heard before Queen Metalia unleashed her fury.

But he remembered now and that was enough for Kunzite's resolve to strengthen and harden into a nigh-impregnable fortress of willpower. Now that his mind was once again his own Kunzite determined that not even death would part him from his Master, or from Her, ever again. The Grim Reaper would claim no prize that day and Charon the Ferryman would receive no coins. He guided his fellow knights back, back to the arctic caverns, back to the halls of the Dark Kingdom, back to Her.

_"Don't cry, Sailor Guardians."_

_"You still have a mission to complete."_

_"Stand up!"_

_"The Princess is waiting for you..."_

Queen Metalia may have reduced their bodies to stone, but those stones could hold more power than the old demon witch ever knew. Even confined to such a prison Kunzite knew they would be able to stretch out even with their energy so diminished and come to their Master's aid. They could sacrifice their power so that their end ensured he and his Princess could have a new beginning. Trapped within the stones, they would still find a way to serve and to repent for all their past wrongs.

_I feel our Master is in danger!_

_The Princess has the Holy Sword!_

_Protect his heart! Take the blade!_

_Block the sword!_

The four stones that abruptly appeared in the breast pocket of Tuxedo Mask's jacket chipped and cracked against the blade, but the sword never pierced his flesh. Kunzite felt in whatever sense an inert chunk of crystal could feel, that his Master and the Princess had been engulfed by the ever-growing body of Queen Metalia. He knew their window of opportunity was growing short so summoning all the spiritual willpower he could muster, he appeared. He knew their conversation would be brief, that Endymion would be shocked to see him, but there would be little time for sentiment. There would only be a moment to tell him of her weakness: the black mark on Queen Metalia's forehead. He trusted that his Master and the Princess would take care of the rest. And they did.

_"Master, I'm so happy we were able to meet again..."_

Truly, Kunzite expected that final battle with Queen Metalia would be his final battle as well. Surely there was no way four small, fractured stones would survive a melee with such a terribly powerful creature, but once again as ever Kunzite underestimated the strength of his Master's spirit. Even when pouring out the last of his strength to help the Princess vanquish the demon Tuxedo Mask kept one hand clutched protectively against his chest, shielding the stones from the power of Metalia's wrath. As they protected him, so he protected them. He continued to protect them even after the battle, enshrining the stones in a leaded crystal keepsake box in his Tokyo apartment perched just to the side of his bed. He would call on them for advice and encouragement, and reverently they would answer. They watched without eyes as their Master grew in strength, came into his own and claimed the Golden Crystal, and finally engaged his beloved Princess. Trapped in the stones, they still found a way to serve, to guide and watch over him.

Until the day he died.

Until the day a creature called Galaxia ripped the Golden Crystal from their Master's heart and single-handedly brought down every Sailor Guardian she encountered. The silver-tinged salmon aura of Kunzite's stone rippled in intensity from his agony. He perceived flashes of bright blue shock, seething crimson rage, and a flare of pale green sadness to join his own. The auras dimmed as the spirits within the stones sank into despair. Trapped in the stones, they could do nothing to save their Master this time. For the first time Kunzite thought back to how he once considered death to be uncomplicated, a simple, fixed matter, and his heart was lanced by his foolishness. Without their Master's strength to maintain the magic Kunzite knew the spirits of the Shitennou would diminish and come untethered from the stones in time. Sure enough the auras of the stones faded, the frosted walls of their crystal home grayed, and the sun slipped behind a veil of night as Kunzite's world gave way to the black void of infinity...

... and then exploded in a golden surge of energy which blew away all thoughts of despair on a cosmic wind and enveloped him fully in a sudden embrace of warmth and empathy. Kunzite no longer felt only the presence of the other three auras next to him, but untold trillions of individual consciousnesses all teeming together in a cauldron of spiritual fire, welcoming him as though he were some long-expected guest of honor. He felt every joy that he had ever known magnified to its zenith. He looked past the all-encompassing glow of golden power to glimpse the secrets of the cosmos and he bathed in the community of connected, swirling consciousness that for the first time broke down every last mental barrier he had ever erected and accepted him fully as the uniquely flawed creature he so desperately tried to hide behind his mask of calculated indifference. He immersed himself in the glow and welcomed the oneness.

And then he remembered Her.

She was here, or she _was _here, he couldn't quite tell, but he felt her presence in the gilded netherworld. He felt his Master's presence, too. They had both been here, whatever this howling, churning, soul-filled mass of star fire was. He slowly rose out of the tumult of spirits and they allowed him his space; they understood, they did not judge. Presently he felt the others beside him: their thoughts shared openly and all of the same mind. They had all touched eternity, but they had all remembered as well. They could not simply melt into the harmonious ecstasy of this universal intelligence when they still had a mission to complete.

_Your Master considers your oaths unbound and your mission fulfilled._

Kunzite thought the voice, the presence, felt familiar. He was reminded of the Princess, but knew she wasn't among the trillions of souls gathered in this place.

_You are free to remain here and take your long-denied rest._

The offer was a tempting one. The spiritual murmurs of his companions confirmed his own eagerness to simply dive headlong back into the enveloping glow of the collective consciousness and become a mere thread in the ageless cosmic tapestry.

_Or do you wish to return?_

Return? Was that even possible? The stipulation of Queen Metalia's curse was that she would own their bodies, forever binding them to her service or reducing them to stone at her mere whim. Questioning the mechanics of it would have to wait though as Kunzite's resolve once again manifested itself. Regardless of the How, there could be no content rest for the Shitennou with so much still undone. Once again Kunzite had underestimated another of his Master's traits: his compassion. Of course he would want them to be safe, to take their rest and unburden themselves, but their mission was _not _complete. Their Master would not be rid of them so easily...

"Yes." Kunzite did not hesitate as the echo of his internal voice reverberated to the edges of his spirit, "But how, if our bodies were destroyed?"

_All bodies are destroyed in time, but no form of Chaos could destroy the seeds of life._

Four bright flashes of light appeared in the humming golden infinity: pastel sparkles of blue, red, green, and rose announced the appearance of the familiar gemstones that bore the names of the Shitennou. For a brief moment Kunzite shuddered to think he would be returned to his previous existence trapped within the glassy facets, but then the four flashed again as their shapes changed, flared in all directions, and spines of silver glass grew out of them like a crystalline dandelion seed.

_These stones are your Star Seeds. Take them and return, or cast them into the Galaxy Cauldron and remain..._

He felt the presence that had spoken to them fade into the ethereal space where the lines between star and soul blurred. With as much trepidation as a disembodied spirit could muster Kunzite reached out his consciousness into the golden miasma and felt the heat of his Star Seed radiating out toward him with the same familiar pulse of his heartbeat and cadence of his breath he knew in life - _two _lives. He hesitated, imagining the look of disappointment on his Master's face when they met (and they _would_ meet no question) and realized they had not chosen to take their rightful rest, but he also imagined the joy of their reunion. He thought of the endless sea of souls in this gilded cauldron wherein he could listen to their tales for eternity, content and calm, but he also thought of the mission left incomplete. He thought of his fellow Shitennou and how they would follow his command even now in this nebulous after-world of the cosmos, but he also thought of how their own minds were made up in the same instance as his own.

And then he remembered Her.

And in an instant he was alive again... alive and in the desert, apparently. But without pants. Also without a shirt. Or _anything _for that matter_. _Universal consciousness and the promise of infinite bliss one moment, naked in the desert the next.

"Well." Kunzite felt his voice rumble up from his throat for the first time in this new body. He drew in a sweltering hot, dusty breath as his mind focused towards the East and his Master dwelling there.

"Shit."

* * *

**TWO YEARS LATER**

* * *

Thinking back on and pondering over the implausibility of his many lives, deaths, and returns as well as the still nebulous feelings and impulses experienced within the Galaxy Cauldron always helped him focus. And Kaden al-Waradi could use all the focus he could muster thanks to the cramped living conditions and the three gargantuan egos of the roommates with which he shared the modest Tokyo apartment. Only a scant few months had passed since he arrived in Tokyo and found three other men of similar age and similar vague background waiting for him, but the camaraderie, the joy of their reunion, and the unity of their mission could not disguise the fact that Kaden was severely lacking in his one true personal pleasure of some moments of quiet, peaceful contemplation. And so he thought back and tried to focus.

It was nearly two years to the day that Kunzite, now Kaden, awakened in the desert wanting for all but his skin. It was an awkward entrance to the nearest village, but he soon found hospitality (and clothes) from the highly amused group of nomadic Bedouin. He stayed with them for a time to repay their kindness as honor demanded. He helped tend their herds, mended their clothes and tents, and at night listened to their ancient stories around the campfire. When the tribe bid him farewell and moved on, Kaden continued on his way.

It was in Turkey when he finally realized why the path he walked felt so familiar: he awakened in the desert not by mere chance or in service of some cosmic comedy, but because it was the place where his prior life ended. It was the place where, drunk with magical thrall, he had wandered into the desert where Queen Beryl snatched him away. He realized he was not given a new life, but placed back into the life he left behind; to continue where he left off before the darkness had found him.

He discovered his name, his family estate, and the inheritance left to him by a family he barely knew. A cursory internet search revealed that his parents, his father the founder and CEO of a successful architectural firm now managed by its board of trustees, and his mother the daughter of a not inconsequential member of Turkish parliament, were both killed while they were on holiday in the random, senseless bombing of a market square in an unfamiliar town for a cause foreign to anything Kaden could comprehend. The family's affairs were left in the hands of trusted colleagues who did not squander or embezzle the fortune to Kaden's thanks (and somewhat cynical disbelief if he were honest with himself) and he was more than content to allow such an arrangement to continue. As dearly as he would have enjoyed reconnecting with old acquaintances and casting new light into the shadowy memories of his youth, he continued on his way East.

It shouldn't have surprised him that he found the other three men so quickly. After all, they were all of them attempting their own individual journeys to reconnect with each other and their Master when they were shackled into service by Queen Metalia once again. That was mere months ago when a chance, speechless reunion devolved into a night of unrestrained emotion and more liquor than should be legal to purchase let alone consume. Kaden's stomach made a mild upward motion at the memory and he immediately shook it away lest the revelers gathered on the sidewalks below find the night's celebration slightly less … sanitary.

But again, that was mere months ago. Months that passed through days of incessant searching, blind inquiries, wandering from district to district in the labyrinth of concrete, steel and light that made up the city Kaden had once wholly frozen in service of a demonic– again he shook the thought away, violently this time. There was no sense to dwell on past sins, not before he once knelt in the presence of the one man who could chastise or absolve him appropriately for those sins: Master Endymion. For all their efforts, for all the silent reflection and meditation they had yet to locate the man whose life was the reason for their existence. Kaden took it as a personal failure: a sign that despite the miles and hardships endured that he still was not worthy enough to face him.

Looking out over the millions of lights illuminating the Tokyo skyline he imagined one of the distant buildings wherein his Master dwelt, oblivious to their search. Was he looking for them as well? Did he long to be reunited with the knights that once served him or was he indifferent to their plight? Were the wounds too deep? Kaden blinked away a moment of melancholy and refocused on the lights, the buildings, and the cheers of the crowds below in the street all anxiously waiting the start of a new year. His memory was sound. He remembered the times appearing in the apartment where his master dwelt, but which apartment was it? And why was his master's name so difficult to recall? Were his memories still so fragmented and if so why when everything else seemed so clear? The city beyond and below offered no answers tonight, so Kaden closed his eyes and began to meditate…

"Such a harsh and wasteful light." A snarky comment delivered as one might give a purposely poor reading of a movie script snapped him from his silent musings. In instant his memory placed the sentence and Kaden only groaned in reply.

The voice of the speaker that walked up behind him, boots crunching against the gravel layer covering the rooftop, was good-humored, deep and loud. Not loud because he was shouting, but loud because his voice boomed out from the powerfully broad frame of a speaker who had no inkling or care that half a city block could hear him even at normal volume. The voice was that of Neil Cassidy Redford, born to a family of Alaskan fishermen who spent his youth working on the dangerous crab boats of the Bering Sea and his adolescence trekking across North America in a ceaseless quest for purpose. He boasted, he laughed with thunder, he was a powder keg of emotions, but he was Nephrite; once Endymion's left hand where Kunzite had been his right. He took his place at the edge of the roof ledge, ever-present beer in hand and he smiled.

"Yes, the only true beauty is the glow of… what was it again?" a second, higher-pitched voice asked carrying the same air of sophomoric amusement.

This voice belonged to the man, scarcely more than a boy as Kaden sometimes had to remind himself, called Jiro Aoi. In his life before Jadeite, he was a Chinese expatriate whose family moved to the west coast of America and who spent the majority of just under twenty years immersed in the cultural sensibilities of the Western world. Insightful and more patient than his youth would suggest, Jiro nevertheless acquired many of what Kaden would consider to be some of Western society's less desirable characteristics such as an over-reliance on technology (especially that damnable iPhone) and a somewhat naive understanding of world issues beyond his own peripheral vision. Regardless, Kaden often found Jiro's youthful innocence the best lens with which to focus in times of difficulty.

"Okay, that's enough…" Kaden uselessly ordered, knowing full well where the next comment would arise.

"Radiant darkness." The third and final voice finished sounding less enthusiastic than the first two, but nevertheless game for the rare opportunity of bringing the most stoic of their group down a peg.

The final voice was that of Zora Montverde; a rather pretentious name for a rather pretentious man as Kaden was often forced to concede. Born in Switzerland to a family of minor nobility, raised on a wealthy uncle's winery in the Loire Valley, and educated in England, Zora was as much a man of letters as any of the historically famous intellectuals could claim, but he devoted far more energy and attention to fleeting passions (such as those god-awful celebrity tabloids, Kaden inwardly cringed) rather than meaningful study; a rather stark departure from the Zoisite of old who was a consummate soldier and healer who always placed his vocations paramount over any transitory distraction. Still, his intelligence and charisma, aloof as he might appear, always filled Kaden with a sense of pride and security.

"Right!" Jiro clapped his hands together as the three newcomers all joined Kaden near the building's roof ledge, "The only true beauty is the glow of radiant darkness. Now!" he turned and laid an unwelcome arm across Kaden's broad shoulders, "Kaden old bean, could you please enlighten us as to what the hell that statement even means?"

"Did you just call me _old bean_?" the eldest of the four asked incredulously.

"I think it was the last gasp of Kaden's emo phase trying to eke out a final shitty movement from the bowels of terrible poetry." Neil assumed with a swig before and again after his statement.

"You've had your fun." Kaden ineffectually attempted to steer the conversation away from one of his more embarrassing soliloquies.

"How can darkness be radiant?" Jiro scratched his head, "Isn't that like the whole point of darkness? That it _can't_ be radiant? Isn't it the absolute opposite of radiance-having-ness?"

"It can be encompassing, suffocating, um…" Neil rattled off synonyms while ticking off fingers on his non-beer hand, "Surrounding, encircling."

"Radiant darkness is like some really serious George Lucas level bad 'Star Wars' dialogue." Jiro concluded, "And I mean Prequel bad. Like, 'I don't like sand; it's rough and irritating and it gets everywhere!'"

"I'll remind you I was possessed at the time." Kaden countered.

"Yeah, possessed by the hormonally frustrated spirit of a fifteen year old girl writing 'Twilight' fanfic." Neil chuckled.

"Hormonally frustrated?" Zora scowled, "I seem to recall you disguising yourself as a woman on more than one occasion."

"Yeah like you never played the curiosity card." Neil dismissed the jab, "Doctor Isono…"

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Zora chirped and winked in Neil's direction, "Because I wore it better?"

"I hope you've got a pirate fetish, Zora." Neil threatened the blonde who scrunched his face in confusion, "You wink at me again and you'll need an eye patch."

"Yarrr!" Jiro intoned uselessly.

"Any chance you'll all make your New Year's resolutions to _not_ bring up the Dark Kingdom, even in jest, as I've so often asked you to do?" Kaden questioned.

"Tragedy plus time, son." Neil remarked with a tilt of his brow, "That equals comedy."

"It _was_ a tragedy as you all seem to so often forget." Kaden began to growl under his breath. The subject was not one he broached of his own accord and was constantly irritated when the others treated it with such nonchalance.

"Kaden, it was also a long time ago." Zora's voice attempted to ease the tension.

"Not long enough." He brusquely replied and shoved off from the railing circling the building's roof. Kaden crossed his arms and walked to the vacant corner that faced the glowing Tokyo Tower.

"Oh come on captain, my captain!" Jiro called after him, "Don't pout."

"Careful, J." Neil cautioned, "He's dangerously close to falling into 'Fearless Leader' mode."

"I probably should!" Kaden suddenly hollered. He spun on his heels to address the others, now all but standing at attention, "Since it seems like the only way we're going to make any progress finding Him is for me to whip your asses into shape and get you to act like the Kings you're supposed to be!"

"Kings?" Neil wrinkled his nose, "Sorry, didn't you just say we weren't mentioning the Dark Kingdom anymore?"

"Kings, knights, it doesn't matter. Titles are nothing; our vows to our Master are everything!" Kaden clarified, "He's out there somewhere in this city and somehow beyond all reason and beyond all odds the four of us can't find _one_ man?!" He threw his arms up in exasperation, "He should be shining like a beacon to us! It should be impossible for us to _not_ know where his 24/7."

"No one said this would be easy." Jiro insightfully observed.

"And we have to allow for the fact—" Zora began but was immediately cut off.

"Don't even bring that up again." Kaden ordered with a stern, steel glance.

"I'm just saying it's possible." Zora reminded him, "Not pleasant, but…"

"What?" Kaden scoffed, "That we came back, but our Master didn't?" He snickered bitterly and shook his silver head, "If that were true then the Earth would be a decaying hollow shell right now."

Zora raised an eyebrow at that statement, "Have you turned on the news lately?"

"Okay!" Neil suddenly clapped his hands together and startled everyone, "It's a new year and we're not starting it off with a communal cry-fest so let's everybody shut the hell up and let sister whiskey pass out some smiles!"

"Neil…" Kaden began.

"No! Shut up! Fuck you!" Neil interrupted him then turned and pointed at Zora, "And you too since this sudden emotional storm cloud is mostly your fault."

"How is it _my_ fault?" Zora balked.

"Isn't it always?" Neil laughed away the insult and produced a brushed stainless flask from the inside pocket of his leather coat, "Now I swear to god if I hear one more bitchy syllable tonight I'm drinking this whole thing myself."

"You're going to drink most of it yourself the way it is." Jiro reminded him.

"Yes, but I'm in a sharing mood right now so take advantage." He swung the mass of chocolate colored hair away from his face and took a long drag from the flask. The alcohol produced an involuntary howl of satisfaction and Neil passed it around.

"What is this?" Jiro sniffed the spout of the flask.

"Whistlepig." Neil told him. Jiro's blank stare caused him to roll his eyes and elaborate, "It's a rye whiskey. It's the best goddamn rye whiskey you're ever going to drink and it's $80 bucks a bottle American so you say one negative thing about it and you bleed."

Jiro took a tentative sip, sloshed the stinging hundred-proof liquid around in his mouth before swallowing with an admirable attempt to hide his grimace and subsequent shiver and then passed it on to Zora. With a flip of his copper ponytail over one shoulder Zora accepted the flask, bent down to an HVAC duct nearby which held a half-full Dixie cup of diet Coke and poured into it two fingers' worth of $80 dollar sipping whiskey. He handed the flask over to Kaden as he swished his cup around all the while staring at Neil who looked like a man who needed to be wearing a revolver on his hip so he had something to draw and blast Zora's smug smirk off the side of the building with.

"You really know how to work the shaft of my fury." Neil growled.

"Buy rum once in a while." His adversary melodiously replied.

"Fuck rum."

"Language, children." Kaden mumbled lightly as he brought the flask to his lips. Before he could drink however the crowd below erupted in cheers as the Tokyo Tower began to strobe in bright prismatic flashes of neon color.

_Ju! Kyu! Hachi! Nana!_

"Shit, what time is it?!" Jiro fumbled with his iPhone as the cheers startled him.

"What time do you think it is, moron?" Neil swatted the phone out of his hand, "Can't you hear the crowd counting down?"

"Hey!" Jiro quickly recovered the fallen phone silently thanking the pushy salesman for recommending the impact-resistant hard case for situations just like this one, "I wanted to watch the ball drop in Times Square!"

"Why?" Neil smirked, "Because you missed out when _your_ balls dropped?"

Jiro was silent for a moment before offering a smile and conceding, "Nice."

_Roku! Go! Yon!_

"Well gents." Neil raised his beer as the crowd's volume intensified, "We made it one more year."

_San!_

"Let's hope we make it to the next." Jiro added.

_Ni!_

"We should be so lucky." Zora agreed.

_Ichi!_

"By our Master's grace." Kaden toasted, "Wherever he is."

"HAPPY NEW YE—" the four men joined the chorus below when they were suddenly interrupted by the slamming of the hatch door that led from the interior of the building to the roof.

"… I have no idea; nobody has a key but me!" a voice exclaimed from the stairway and shortly after a young man crouched over in a defensive posture holding a golf club in one hand and a flashlight in the other emerged, "Who the hell is up here?!"

"Konnichiwa Motoki-kun!" Zora greeted the newcomer warmly as he hopped over the heating ducts to stand in the light of the fireworks, "Akemashite omedetou!"

"Oh! It's just you guys…" Motoki Furuhata was immediately surprised and relieved to find the four familiar men rather than, as he assumed, an elite paramilitary squadron about to break into the building and steal all of his valuable … aprons …

"I was wondering where you were!" Neil waved to him and produced several bottles of beer from a nearby cooler which he proceeded to pass around to the group, "Join the party!"

"I already have a drink." Kaden noted the flask still in his hand when Neil attempted to hand over a bottle of Miller High Life.

"New year, new beer." Was the wise commentary that followed. Kaden simply sighed and accepted.

Motoki accepted the offer kindly but apologized, "I'd like to stay guys, but I'm kind of having my own little thing at my apartment tonight. We heard noise up here so I just came to check."

"You're having a party and you don't invite us?!" Neil acted (or might have been genuinely) insulted, "There's literally a hallway between us, dude. Why are you making it a crevasse?"

"I … don't know what that means." Motoki confessed.

Living in the apartment across the hall from these four men certainly wasn't an exciting prospect for Motoki, the long-suffering sole employee of the aging Crown Fruit Parlor and Arcade as well as the lone tenant of the apartments directly above the shop. He was used to his solitude and the freedom it provided him, but the four men whom he occasionally heard refer to themselves as knights and kings through loud, locked-door conversations (he assumed they were all quite fond of Dungeons and Dragons) were certainly endearing and never encroached on his personal space. Still, friendly and fun as they were as neighbors he never could quite wrap his head around who they actually were. The way they talked to one another, the way they came and went at all hours of the morning; he never suspected anything malicious, just something odd.

"Look, I'm sorry." Motoki set his unopened beer down on the gravelly floor of the roof, "Maybe next year. You should've let me know sooner! I would have-"

"Motoki is everything alright up there?" a concerned female voice from below called up.

"Well!" Neil's ears perked up immediately and even Jiro and Zora looked passively interested in this development, "I can hear why you're so eager to ditch us."

"No introductions Motoki-kun?" Zora pouted as adorably as he knew how, which was substantially.

Of the four men Motoki was most confused when it came to Zora and it certainly didn't help that he habitually called him Motoki-_kun_. Either Zora was attracted to him in which case he was flattered, but not at all interested, or Zora knew how uncomfortable it made him in which case… Zora was just being a prick? Probably the latter…

"Everything's okay!" Motoki hollered back down the stairs and then added, defeated, "Come on up for a minute and meet my neighbors!"

"Meeting the neighbors!" Jiro excitedly rubbed his hands together, "It's a big step!"

Motoki replied with a false grin that was easily interpreted as "Please don't embarrass me." A moment later a young woman with brick colored hair and dark russet eyes wearing a sparkling dark purple evening gown joined Motoki on the rooftop. Whatever the young man's neighbors were expecting to see ascend from the apartments below; it was not the striking young professional that appeared.

"Guys this is Reika Nishimura, my fiancée." Motoki introduced her and positively glowed with pride, "Reika these are my neighbors."

"Right, the kings I've heard so much about!" she greeted them and seemed genuinely enthusiastic to finally put faces to the stories.

"Kings?" Kaden immediately demanded with much more force than he should have.

"Uh…" Motoki stammered and backed into the door jamb, "S- sorry, it's just that… you know. You guys get kind of loud when you're, um… doing whatever…"

"Cards." Neil immediately jumped in, "We play a lot of cards."

"Gin." Jiro clarified.

"Rummy." Zora said at the same time.

The two blondes glanced at each other angrily and both spoke at the same time, "Gin Rummy."

"And checkers." Kaden grumbled making a mental note to restrict conversational volume in the apartment from here on out.

"Oh, well, you should come play cards with us sometime!" Reika suggested kindly, "It's really too bad Japan still doesn't have casinos of their own; I've seen plenty in my travels, they're really something!"

"Maybe!" Motoki chirped obviously trying to steer the conversation to a swift conclusion.

"Hell why wait?" Neil guffawed and made sure everyone saw how hard he began flexing his ample biceps, "I'll deal you a little five card _stud_ right now."

"Jesus…" Zora groaned and rolled his eyes away from the proceedings.

"Hey Motoki, you coming back down anytime tonight?" a third voice asked from just behind Reika still on the steps.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Motoki apologized, losing count of how many times he'd done _that_ this evening, "It's just my neighbors up here having their own party."

"I think at this point it's safe to say _THE_ party is on the roof, brother." Neil waved his arm towards the folding chairs, the cooler of beer, and the unobstructed view of the Tokyo skyline alight with fireworks and balloons all carrying New Year's wishes into the sky, "Why don't you guys pop a squat next to daddy and we'll ring in this bad boy in style?"

"He makes a compelling argument." Reika winked.

Motoki tilted his head back with eyes closed as if praying to an obviously deaf higher power and finally folded, "Fine."

"Hooray! Real people to talk to!" Zora immediately perked up, "So Reika you said you traveled? Well let me tell you about the three months I spent in—"

The conversation was interrupted by a titanic explosion just overhead as a rocket exploded in a trillion points of twinkling burning light. Jiro actively patted himself down to ensure his jacket hadn't singed, the firework exploded so close. The light blinded them and the report finally faded to a dull ringing tone. When everyone recovered and looked up a second man stood near Motoki.

"Christ that was close." Jiro muttered and clicked his fingers near his ear to test his hearing.

"I thought Americans were batshit crazy about fireworks." Neil laughed though shaken himself.

"Is anyone hurt?" the third voice asked. Only his outline was visible through the haze of smoke and the flash blindness.

"No we're good." Kaden assured them.

"Motoki, who is this dude?" Neil waved at the newcomer, "I think he's bad luck."

"Oh, sorry." Motoki remembered where was and what he was doing, "This is one of my best friends; we were in school together." He turned to the raven-haired man beside him, "This is Chiba—"

"Endy—!" Kaden gasped and the color fled his face leaving it as white as his hair. Zora, Jiro and Neil echoed his shock similarly.

Mamoru's eyes grew wide. The champagne flute that he held in his left hand tumbled forgotten and shattered against the gravel rooftop. Someone else likewise dropped a beer bottle. No one breathed. Some foreign energy charged the air in the space on the Crown rooftop; not electricity, static or ozone, but something stronger and more primal.

"—Mamoru, actually." Motoki spoke in a whisper as he surveyed the tense scene, "Um…" Reika's gentle hand upon his silenced him.

Without warning Mamoru rushed forward, tripped over one of the HVAC ducts that lined the rooftop, righted himself in mid stumble, and came to stand directly in front of Kaden. Mamoru's eyes stood only to the height of Kaden's chin, but he did not look up. He reached out both hands and firmly grasped the taller man's shoulders. He ran his hands down Kaden's arms and back up again. Finally midnight blue eyes sought out those of gray steel as the two men saw each other for the first time.

"You're real!" Mamoru stated. Kaden could only blink in reply, "You're _here_!"

"We are." Kaden assured him as Mamoru's grasp on his shoulders slackened.

"_How?!_" The question came as a choked gasp. Mamoru's throat was instantly raw, "How can you be here?" He shook his head and glanced downward and back up again, "When I … _came back_ … I thought you were … the _stones_ were gone!"

"We followed you, Master." Neil spoke as he moved to stand at Kaden's side.

"To the ends of the galaxy." Zora added from Kaden's other.

"And we chose to follow you back." Jiro told him from where he stood just to Mamoru's left.

"You're all here…" Mamoru repeated as he finally released Kaden's shoulders and turned to stare at the four men in turn.

"We've been looking for you for a long time." Kaden told him and he thought back to the words he spoke upon their last meeting just after he had been freed from Queen Metalia's curse, "Master, I'm so happy we were able to –"

"Mamo-chaaaaan!" A voice behind them cried out with a shrill, slightly inebriated cadence, "It's New Year's and you didn't kiss me yeeeEEEEEEEEK!"

"Usako!" Mamoru turned and once again stumbled on an exposed heating duct.

"Master!" Kaden panicked and bent down to retrieve the fallen man, slipping on a patch of gravel himself and landing with his elbow impacting Mamoru's tail bone.

"Oh shit!" Jiro gasped and chuckled at the pained howl that erupted from both men.

"Is that the Princess?" Neil seemed distracted by the blonde, pigtailed creature stumbling towards them with odango buns bouncing and a frilly blue dress that looked like it was lifted directly from a production of _La Traviata_.

"Is she drunk?" Zora added also rapt by the stupefying scene.

"Mamo-chan are you alright?!" Usagi knelt down and wrapped both arms around one of his as both she and Kaden helped the man stagger to his feet.

"I was fine until the whole building fell on me." Mamoru groaned and glanced over his shoulder at the wide-eyed Kaden, "That was a joke."

"Oh."

"Mamo-chan, that's—" Usagi pointed repeatedly at the group of four men behind them, whispering despite the fact that everyone could hear her, "That's—That's – Those are—!"

"Yes, Usako." Mamoru smiled at her. And at them, "I know."

"They're back?" she asked, indeed quite adorably drunk as Zora observed.

Mamoru took Usagi in his arms, turned her towards the group of four men and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Kaden, Zora, Neil and Jiro all bowed their heads and sank to one knee as the pair faced them.

"They're back."

"They're back." Usagi repeated and her smile suddenly took on Cheshire proportions, "THEY'RE BACK!"

"Woah, Usagi, slow down and—" Mamoru uselessly tried to hold on to the exuberant mass of cheer as she rocketed towards Motoki and Reika, practically wringing the life from their necks as she hugged them with all her considerable Senshi strength.

"THEY BOYS ARE BAAAAACK!" she shrieked as her heels stammered down the stairs back to Motoki's apartment to, as Mamoru presumed, begin sharing the good news to anyone who cared (or didn't for that matter) to hear.

"Oh boy." He drew a hand through the dark oily strands of his hair and scratched near the base of his neck.

"She's certainly…" Zora couldn't resist the chance to make a terrible pun, "Spirited."

"I'm so sorry for what he's become in our absence." Neil gave a mock apology and elbowed Zora in the ribs for good measure.

"I can't believe this." Mamoru had finally given up trying to dodge the vents and ducts and other obstacles on the roof and simply slumped down onto one for a sit, "How did you all come back? Where have you _been_?"

"It's a long story, Master." Kaden smiled; something he hadn't done in genuine happiness for a long time.

"I think I need to hear it." Mamoru smiled back and in spite of himself involuntary, joyful laughter began punctuating every word, "I want to hear _all_ of it!"

Something cold poked him in the forearm and Mamoru turned to see Neil offering him a bottle, "Beer?"

Mamoru took it with a grin and turned. Faces stared back at him; faces he remembered from two lifetimes but never thought to lay eyes on again. Faces that at once held memories of joy and terror and now the promise of something much greater. He leaned back on his uncomfortable makeshift heating duct chair which may as well have been a throne and twisted the cap off his beer.

"My four kings," Mamoru laughed, "Where do we begin?"


	3. Chapter Two

_DVD COMMENTARY: Hey all! Thanks to everyone who has read and commented and reviewed and messaged me and all that other wonderful internet stuff! I'm glad there's still an audience after making you wait for so long! Anyway, I hope not to intrude in the margins too often, but I wanted to say that since this is a re-write I will be reusing and repurposing scenes and dialogue from the original "My Four Kings" when it fits. For instance, quite a bit of this chapter is lifted directly from the original version and just tweaked a bit. I don't want you to think I'm being lazy and just wrote a new Chapter One and now I'm going to cut-and-paste the rest of the story. Cheers!_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Jiro!" thundered a voice which would have sounded more at home on a Viking longboat than in the hallway of a cramped Tokyo apartment.

Jiro was unresponsive. His fingers flew wildly over the keyboard as his mouse hand clicked out a series of staccato rhythms like a telegraph machine having a seizure. The brooding, muscle-bound, armored avatar on the computer screen swung his egregiously over-sized broad sword at the pixelated skeleton in front of him. Flashes of light from some sort of magic spell were accompanied by booming, crackling, swooshing sound effects that poured deafeningly into bagel-thick headphones strapped to the young gamer's head. A point-blank gunshot would've gone unnoticed. The intruder grabbed the left headphone speaker and snapped it against his companion's ear.

"Neil you _DICK_!" the younger man shouted back and ripped the headphones off in a fury, "These are expensive!" He pawed at his ear, "And that hurt!"

"Not half as much as when I literally turn you upside down by your ankles and shake all the loose change out of your pockets!" Neil fired back and whipped a pile of wet clothes at Jiro that he was holding out of sight behind his back.

"What?!" the younger man stammered, trying to piece together this turn of events while simultaneously attempting to continue his virtual battle against the forces of the undead in his computer game.

"You did your laundry with hot water again!" Neil shouted, furious, "We went over this a dozen times: we do all of our laundry on the _cold_ setting; that's why we have the special detergent! Do you have any idea how much hot water drives up the heating bill?"

"Yeah, about three bucks a month!" Jiro replied as he stood up and shook the soggy laundry away, "It's a small price to pay; everyone knows hot water cleans better."

"Yeah, it'll be better for cleaning the blood off the walls when I'm done with you!" Neil shot straight back.

Footsteps pounded down the stairs from the loft on floor above Jiro's room and the door swung open. A third man stuck his head out topped by coppery blonde hair much longer than Jiro's which currently had at least two hairbrushes stuck inside it bound up in various knots. He wasn't wearing a shirt as was his usual custom inside their shared home, much to his companion's chagrin. It was about 3PM and it looked as though he'd only recently woken up.

"Any chance you gentlemen could keep your riveting conversation to yourselves?" he asked in a tone of voice suggesting whatever activity he was currently engaged in was much too important to be interrupted by their argument.

"Riveting, huh? Maybe a rivet gun is what we need to teach you not to do you laundry with hot water." Neil growled; Jiro raised an eyebrow, "Leave it to Zoisite to come up with the most creative tortures."

"You know you're not supposed to call me that." Zora scowled.

"You're not supposed to be gay." Neil replied evenly.

Zora stood leaning out the doorway for a moment before rolling his eyes and mouthing, "Fuck you guys." The door slammed behind him, followed by footsteps, followed by whispered swearing.

Coming down off his anger high, Neil sat on the edge of the purple inflatable mattress that Jiro called a bed and took in the surroundings. The bed itself was a mess covered partially by one threadbare orange sheet that looked as if Jiro had owned it since infancy and several other smaller fleece throws all purchased at the nearby Thrift store, one of which was definitely emblazoned with faded _My Pretty Pony _imagery. Jiro's laptop was open near his pillow. While he reserved his desktop computer strictly for gaming purposes, he had a tendency to sleep with his laptop and very rarely used it beyond the confines of his bedroom leading to rampant speculation that one click of the browser history would reveal a staggering amount of lurid content.

Jiro's computer desk was littered with tacky, useless books that no one would ever read (purchased in bulk at a flea market to "fill out the shelves" as Jiro claimed), old printer cartridges, an unopened bottle of Bacardi 151 and piles of receipts dating back at least two years. His nightstand was a similar mess with the top shelf reserved for empty plastic cups and myriad personal hygiene products. There was one picture hanging on the empty expanse of white walls and it was a framed portrait of Billy Joel autographed to someone named Sejirou. Jiro never explained how he came to possess it, though it may have been a lost heirloom from the previous tenants of their too-small home.

Jiro's closet stood near the desk, but instead of using it to store his clothes he tended to use the back of his rolling computer chair for that purpose. At least two week's worth of clothing was draped over the chair and only Jiro's weight when he sat down kept it from tipping over. Since he was now standing, the chair and all his clothes plummeted to the plain gray carpeted floor.

"Your room is depressing." Neil observed.

"Your mom is depressing," was Jiro's favored comeback despite the fact that such jokes went out of style at the turn of the new millennium.

Jiro straightened out his chair and sat back down, turning to his computer again and typing out apologies to his guild mates in his favorite MMORPG for wiping their raid group because he wasn't paying attention thanks to Neil's intrusion.

"What is this shit?" Neil asked in mild disgust.

"I don't complain about how you spend your free time." Jiro quipped as he continued typing random assortments of letters in MMO short-hand that Neil didn't comprehend, "Don't bitch about how I spend mine."

"Who's bitching?" Neil countered, "I don't care what you do; I'm just pointing out how juvenile and terribly worthless it is to waste all your time playing video games with a bunch of twelve-year-olds."

"The average age of gamers is actually in the mid-twenties." Jiro dismissed him.

"Yes, I know. They are all potato-shaped, lack basic social skills and live at home with their mothers." Neil replied.

"That's a baseless stereotype and you know it." Jiro argued, "Gaming culture doesn't carry the same stigma it did back a few years ago." He turned to cast Neil a haughty smirk, "Its geek chic."

"You ever use that phrase again and I'll break something expensive." Neil warned as he surveyed the disorder of Jiro's room, "Though that might prove difficult considering everything you own is cheap and tacky."

"A man who wants nothing is invincible." Jiro philosophized.

"And probably homeless." Neil continued on in rare form.

"Can I get back to my game now?" Jiro pleaded, "Don't you have whiskey to drink or something?"

"Out of curiosity what's your role in this gay-ass computer game you love so much?" Neil wondered.

"My character is a warrior." Jiro replied suddenly quite animated to explain in detail, "I lead my party through dungeons, I absorb damage, I call out attack patterns, I keep the enemy's focus on me and, if need be, I sacrifice myself so the rest of my party has time to heal and regroup during difficult battles."

"His ears are pointy." Neil stated after a cursory glance at the computer screen.

"I'm an Elf."

"So you're a selfless, strategic, heroic badass with, I presume, a once-in-a-millennium, prophecy-fulfilling sixteen-inch Elf-dick?" Neil nodded, "Everything that you're not in real life."

"I'm sorry; I couldn't hear you over the sound of me being ranked fifth on my server in player-versus-player combat." Jiro countered him again, "I am literally one of the best people in the world at this game and nothing you say will diminish my pride."

"When's the last time that ranking got you laid?" Neil asked and threw a finger in Jiro's face, "And I don't mean with your fake-ass computer character having virtual cartoon sex with a panda bear or whatever the fuck you do."

"My sex life is just fine, thanks." Jiro tried to divert the topic.

"Do you even know what a woman is?" Neil chided him.

"I was on a date last weekend, jackass." Jiro reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that magical date that just suddenly popped up when it was your turn to clean the bathroom." Neil waved his hand in circular motions above his head, "What was her name again? Mary Sue? That's what they call fictional women who are too good to be true, right?"

"Funny." Jiro didn't laugh, "I could think of someone you once considered too good to be—"

"Don't you speak another god damned word." Neil's voice rumbled like a storm cloud, suddenly devoid of any humor.

Jiro sighed heavily and slammed his mouse down on the pad before turning to face his inquisitor, "So are we just never going to address the elephant in the room?"

"Now you're getting it." Neil relaxed his posture only slightly, "And why would we even bother? You seem to be getting along just fine. You're even going on fake dates."

"She wasn't fake!" Jiro yelped back, "And while I sit here perfectly content to be your punching bag, why is it suddenly a national crisis if I try to score a hit by mentioning Her?"

"Because there is. No. _HER_." Neil's tone was callous as he made the declaration. Then he relaxed considerably, obviously in no mood for Jiro's attempts to force an emotional moment, "Just like your fake date, whose name I note you've failed to mention."

"Yeah, nice try." Jiro dismissed him.

"Not really helping your case."

"I'm not telling you."

"Why? Because she's fake?"

Jiro replied, "No, because if I tell you her name you're going to stalk her on Facebook and start sending anonymous messages saying I eat crayons, or I'm scared of palm trees, or whatever else your sick brain can come up with."

"So you're saying you made a fake Facebook profile for her and everything?" Neil guffawed.

"SHE'S NOT FAKE!"

"PROVE IT!"

"It's Naru Osaka, OKAY?!"

There was a moment of silence (_blessed_ silence from Zora's perspective above) before Neil took in a sharp breath, "Didn't…"

"Shut up." Jiro weakly demanded.

"Didn't you…" Neil thought back, "Try to… kill her mother?"

"_Replaced_ her mother with a youma." Jiro clarified, eager to move on to a new topic as quickly as possible, "Obviously she doesn't know who I _was_."

"Wow." Neil perched his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers, "So… How did all this come about?"

"It's not that serious of a thing." Jiro sighed, "I just… ran into her one day. We were both shopping at the same music store, I said hello, we chatted about jazz, then I asked her out."

"No…" Neil spoke slowly and his eyes traced the outline of Jiro's perturbed face, "There's an ulterior motive here."

"Yeah." Jiro confessed, "Relationships with people outside of this apartment."

"You're not interesting enough to sustain a relationship with a girl who likes jazz." Neil analyzed.

"Wow, real ego booster." Jiro gave a disbelieving snort of laughter, "Now you see why I take pride in things like video game statistics."

"If memory serves, Naru Osaka was best friends with…" Neil's face suddenly lit up as it did only when sampling a particularly fine whiskey, "… the Princess!"

"The Princess is best friends with _everyone_." Jiro reminded him.

"So everything you say and do will eventually be communicated back to her when she and the Princess discuss you, which of course they will." Neil continued.

"Neil…" Jiro tried to interrupt.

"So knowing this will happen you will simply bide your time, patient as ever, until you've reached a level of comfort where dropping subtle clues won't be as closely scrutinized."

"Neil, stop." Jiro became defensive.

"And eventually those clues will lead the Princess to understand that you need her help to make proper introductions…" Neil finished his deduction, "Because you're terrified of a certain shrine maiden…"

Jiro snapped his teeth together as his face took on a shade of red not unlike a shrine maiden's hakama.

"… that you once abducted with a bus."

"ENOUGH!" Jiro screamed and jumped from his seat.

"Would you two both shut up?!" Zora's voice shouted through the floor from his loft above.

Jiro and Neil stalled for a moment as both men read each other's expressions. Jiro was a storm of emotion, red with anger, and fists balled at his side. Neil was calm, collected, and unfortunately quite correct. Normally the roles were reverse and Jiro was not enjoying his sudden placement as the brash, emotional, impulsive one.

"Now you see why I say there is no _Her_." Neil told him softly, "Because I'm smart enough to leave all of that in the past."

"You just bottle it up." Jiro argued.

"The only thing I bottle up is bourbon." Neil answered frankly, "And I need a drink."

He stood from Jiro's inflatable bed and smoothed out his plain red tee shirt with one hand. Jiro simply glared up at him, the video game behind him forgotten.

"You could use one too." Neil determined and nodded his head towards the door, "Come on over, your room is making me want to put a gun in my mouth."

Jiro glowered at the back of Neil's head as he exited the room and briefly wondered how deep his fist would sink into the tangled mass of wood-colored hair before he hit skull. Jiro was certainly upset, but more at himself than the content of the previous argument. He excelled in conflict; he was always the most placid, reserved presence in the room, but Neil was an expert manipulator and the only person who could routinely crack Jiro's mental locks and drag raw emotion out into the light of day. In some perverse way he knew Neil did it for his own good, to air the grievances that would have otherwise gone unspoken, but that didn't make Jiro want to punch him in the back of the head any less. With a groan of resignation Jiro fell into step and walked across the hall to Neil's room. There was an audible sigh of relief from Zora's loft.

Neil's open door was adorned with a stylized medieval letter _N_ flanked on both sides by silhouettes of naked women like the kind found on the mud flaps of a tractor trailer. His floor was partially covered by a large bear-skin rug. The wall adjacent to his bed was covered almost completely by a large framed print of a great white shark leaping out of the ocean to catch a seal in its fanged maw. Above his headboard hung a large decal of another stylized medieval _N_, only this one sprouting dragon-like wings. Next to his bed was a bookcase and dresser holding a library of martial arts manuals, historical novels, and popular science contradictorily paired with books about astrology, mysticism and meditation. The top shelf was reserved for a lava lamp and his CD collection which was comprised mostly primarily of Led Zeppelin, The Who, and the Grateful Dead.

The wall opposite the great white shark mural displayed several movie posters such as _The Thirteenth Warrior_ and _The Alamo_. (The original with John Wayne.) However, beneath those stood a fifty gallon saltwater aquarium that contained a variety fish and other marine life and a wide array of coral in a rainbow of colors. The aquarium was Neil's pride and joy and in addition to the hours of intricate care it took to maintain, he'd also sunk several thousand dollars into his hobby for top-of-the-line equipment. Jiro knocked one knuckle against the glass trying to get the attention of one of the fish and was immediately rewarded with a swat to the back of the head.

"Don't bother Speenan." Neil said in reference to the sleek looking clownfish Jiro was apparently bothering.

"Speenan?"

"I tried to name him Speedy, but I was drunk and it came out kinda sideways." Neil confessed without an ounce of regret, "By the way, I should be getting a package in the mail sometime soon with my new light fixtures. Keep an eye out for it."

"I got a package for you right here," Jiro said and gestured to his crotch.

"Fantastic." Neil replied flatly.

He turned to sit in the massive plush leather arm chair (the Chair of Manly Thoughts as it was described by its owner) which took up most of the rest of the room in lieu of a desk. He retrieved a decanter full of brown liquid and two glasses from the small end table perched next to his chair which was placed with the express purpose of holding the aforementioned items at all times. He poured out a measure into each glass and handed one over to Jiro.

"What's today's choice of misery?" Jiro regarded his glass with a grimace.

"Evan Williams Single Barrel." Neil replied fondly, "Full-bodied, balanced, and a hell of a bargain."

"It all tastes like lighter fluid to me." Jiro groaned and downed the glass in one gulp. An involuntary shiver shook his whole body.

"If you want to appreciate whiskey," Neil began, "You need to slow down, sip," He took a sip, swished the liquid in his mouth, scrunched his forehead in exaggerated thought, swallowed, "And let it speak to you in all its subtleties."

"Your booze speaks to you?" Jiro smiled, "You know there are meetings for that."

"You're missing out on a transformative experience." Neil warned him and took another sip.

Speaking of transformative, Zora chose that moment to remove himself from the isolated loft and join the rest of the world. He walked into Neil's room wearing a terrifically expensive designer pair of pre-distressed and pre-torn jeans, though still shirtless. His hair was back to its normal tame ponytail and it showed the hours' worth of work that it must have taken to comb and straighten. He glanced at his partners and tilted his body against the door frame.

"What's going on tonight?" he asked lackadaisically.

"Dunno yet. Food, probably. Booze." Neil and Jiro both responded and the latter added, "Maybe some consensual relations with the lady-types."

"Well you guys have fun." Zora said in a tone of voice that just cried _"Ask me about my problems."_

"Fine, be a bitch." Neil dismissed him and turned back to his whiskey glass.

"Neil, maybe you're fine with just leeching off of Kaden's inheritance, but I have a little more pride!" Zora replied, using his favorite argument when these situations arose, "I don't have money to be pissing away at the bar every god damned night!"

"Since when do you of all people turn down a free hand-out?" Neil recoiled.

"I like to work for what I have." The copper-top haughtily replied.

"No, you like to _think_ that you like to work for what you have." Neil corrected him, "Which is why you have nothing, because you hate to work."

"Oh I hate to work?" Zora smugly retorted, "I suppose that's why I spent three years studying abroad in more countries than you can name."

"It only counts as studying abroad if you're actually _in school_ while you're doing it." Neil observed.

"Not all learning happens in a classroom." Zora spat, "It's called intellectual curiosity; you should try it."

"What sound advice!" Neil sassed, "I'll just ignore the shelf full of intellectually curious books that I sleep next to." He gestured at the shelf with his middle finger for effect, "And you weren't studying, Zora, you were roaming aimlessly around Europe because you were restless."

"Is that a fact?" he challenged.

"Yes it is." Neil accepted, "Because we were all doing the same thing, if you recall. I was backpacking my way across North America searching for meaning, you were living out of hostels because you were confused, and Kaden was wandering in the desert like a moron!"

"What about me?" Jiro whined.

"You were probably teething." Neil joked.

"You know I'm not as young as you all think I am." He pouted.

"Regardless, is that really how you want to present yourselves to Endy—" Zora caught his tongue and corrected, "—Mamoru after all this time? That we're just living off Kaden's charity?"

"Yes I'm sure our financial arrangements are his chief concern." Neil waved an airy hand, "Not, you know, 'Oh my god, you're all _still_ alive!' or anything."

"I'm sure he's gotten over the initial shock by now." Zora thought.

"Yeah, that's why Kaden has been with him for like forty-eight hours straight." Jiro shrugged.

"Well that's just Kaden being, again, a moron." Neil decreed, "Mamoru made it this far without us, I don't think we need to be coddling him like an infant."

In a rare moment of cosmic agreement, the assembled group heard the front door of their apartment open followed by the poised, purposeful strides of their leader coming down the hall.

"My room!" Neil shouted.

"Zora." Kaden greeted as he appeared in the door frame. Zora didn't betray any intent to move from his position still lazily slumped against the jamb. Kaden continued, "Good to see you're still keeping in shape."

"At least someone notices." The younger man greedily answered.

"He means go put a shirt on." Neil translated. Zora stuck his tongue out. Neil made a scissoring motion with two fingers.

"How's Mamoru?" Jiro interjected.

"Fine." Kaden answered and then smiled to himself, "Excellent."

"He's still alive, then?" Neil asked next.

"Yes..." Kaden answered obviously.

"Oh, 'cause you've been with him since New Year's." Neil told him and checked the time on his watch, "Which was about… forty-three hours ago."

"You were welcome to join us, I said as much." Kaden reminded the group.

"Well sorry, but we are mere mortals." Neil apologized, "And our pesky, primitive bodies require maintenance like sleep and food."

"We did eat. And sleep." Kaden rolled his eyes.

"Were you allowed on the bed with him, or did he make you sleep on the floor?" Zora quipped.

Kaden cocked his head at the blonde and spoke as if in betrayal, "Go put a shirt on." Zora grinned shit-eatingly in response.

"Honestly, I thought you'd all be more…" Kunzite searched for a word while waving a hand near his head in a circle, "… _animated_ about finding our Master again! Aren't you excited to continue our mission?"

"We are!" Jiro exclaimed, almost hurt by the remark.

"Dude, it hasn't even been two days!" Neil observed, "And be honest, he's been facing mortal peril for years without us; you don't need to smother him."

"I'm not!" Kaden uselessly defended himself, "I was just… reconnecting."

Neil reached down to the side of his chair and pulled the plug for one of his lava lamps out of the wall jack. The lamp went dark and Neil wordlessly held the plug up to eye level and turned it back and forth in his hand to make sure Kaden got a good look at it. He then proceeded to plug the lamp back in, the lava glow returned, and Neil gestured to indicate his presentation was complete.

"You know it's not that simple." Kaden declared.

"Make it that simple." Neil suggested, "Before you worry yourself an ulcer."

"I know you want it to be just like it was," Zora spoke as soothingly as his condescending personality could allow, "But he doesn't need our constant protection like he once did. We aren't knights anymore and this isn't Elysion."

"Zora…" Kaden began and for a moment it seemed as if the stoic creature were about to confide some deep personal conflict to the younger man, "Go put a shirt on."

"Why?" he cocked an eyebrow teasingly, "Does my beauty intimidate you."

"No," Kaden answered evenly, "But you need to be dressed appropriately. All of you." He pointed to Neil and Jiro in turn, "For the royal feast."

"Oh my Christ we've lost him." Neil gasped at the melodrama.

"The Prince and Princess have invited us to dinner."


	4. Chapter Three

**CHAPTER THREE**

"Kaden is going to kill me."

Mamoru spoke aloud despite being the lone occupant of his apartment. He filed away the nostalgia of the moment and the strange feeling of joyfulness the thought of that particular looming threat brought him for later enjoyment and focused on the immediate problem.

Kaden had mentioned more than once during his forty-eight hour visit how much he liked Mamoru's apartment (especially now that he was able to experience it in three-dimensional space, not simply as a spiritual presence inside a rock) and admired how neat he kept it. Mamoru used to hate being called neat; he always took it as a pejorative term. Neat – the sort of thing you say when you've run out of compliments, or never had any to begin with. It was a hollow sentiment meant to disguise the true opinion of _boring_. Fortunately for the near future if neat truly was synonymous with boring Mamoru would be anything but.

The apartment, specifically the kitchen, was a crime scene. To compound matters, this time he could not lay the blame on dear Usagi whose exuberant but underdeveloped culinary skills often resulted in nightmare landscapes of ingredients and utensils like something out of a Bosch painting. No, this was Mamoru's sin and the penance of seeing his neat apartment brought to such ruin was nearly unbearable. The only disaster in recent memory to compare (other than the tyrannically insane Sailor Galaxia murdering everything, himself included) was Minako's Tragic Toast incident. That memory conjured a smile… which then immediately tumbled in on itself when a new problem arose to overshadow even the most egregious gastronomic genocide.

The Shitennou were back. It had been two days since their miraculous reappearance into his life but he felt as though barely any time had passed. Their long stories and hours of laughter on the roof of Crown was the best possible icebreaker and he wondered if he would have been so open with his emotions if it had not all happened so suddenly. Mamoru was not a man to wear his heart on his sleeve, but he opened up to them in ways that he never did before, even with Usagi. Even though he felt that he was as much as stranger to them now as he was long ago in his life as Endymion the first time he stood before them, there was a familiarity and a casual ease to their conversation even in awkward moments like when he realized he didn't know their names in this lifetime. Being with the Shitennou felt natural, like falling back into a comfortable routine or slipping on his favorite green blazer, but easy as it was for him he couldn't fathom what conflict their sudden return might stir within the ranks of the Sailor Senshi.

There had been a time just after the final battle with the Dark Kingdom in one those rare moments when Mamoru, Usagi, and her friends were able to slow down and catch their breaths that everyone decided to sit down, discuss, and share their memories of the Silver Millennium to bring as much closure as possible to that chapter of their existence. Mamoru's memories were fragmentary and indeed the memories of the Senshi varied widely in their impact and influence. Makoto considered her memories to be like watching someone else's home movies and seeing a resemblance in a young woman that she felt she might have known a long time ago. Ami, always sensible and skeptical, was well aware of how the human brain created and stored memories, so she viewed her past experiences as something akin to reference material rather than having any active bearing on her current life. Rei, already something of a modern-day princess, simply accepted that a very long time ago an entire planet might have bowed at her command and allowed her spiritual compass to simply guide her along her life's path as it always had. The outlier, of course, was Minako.

When Mamoru first met Minako (properly, outside of a battle with fuku-clad super women) he understood exactly why she was considered the leader of the Sailor Team. She was sharp, quick-thinking, courageous, and experienced. That last point, however, gave him pause. Minako had been fighting a group called the Dark Agency, something of the Dark Kingdom's initial expeditionary force, while Mamoru was still learning how to tie his tuxedo's bowtie. She had battled youma and had regained the memories of her past life long before she met the other girls and she stood apart from them for that reason. Perhaps it was the head start she had fighting evil, the fact that she was a year or more younger than the rest were when Artemis found her, or just her own adolescent search for identity, but where the other Sailor Senshi regained their memories and integrated them in their own way, Minako embraced hers fully.

She didn't need to learn how to be a leader; she already was one in her past life. She didn't need to learn how to sneak undetected into the Dark Agency's base of operations; she already perfected that skill chasing Serenity when she would steal away to the Earth. She didn't need to learn how to fight; she was already a fighter long ago. But for all of her power, cunning, and all of her charm it didn't disguise the fact that Minako Aino was a lonely young woman who longed for the type of companionship the other Senshi found in Usagi and who lived every day since awakening as a Sailor Senshi with the knowledge that she was fighting against the man she used to love.

Mamoru was well aware during the Silver Millennium that his Knights were acquainted with the Princess' Sailor Guardians from their not-so-clandestine missions to retrieve the wayward monarch whenever she would sneak away from the Moon. What he was not aware of was Minako's present-day battlefield revelation that not only had the Senshi and Shitennou met in their past lives, but that they had fallen in love. In the heat of conflict the disclosure was a cruel irony, a twist of fate seized and warped by the Dark Kingdom for maximum effect, but fate nonetheless. Just as he fought through the ages to join his heart with Usagi, so too would their guardians fight for each other's.

Pondering this, Mamoru involuntarily started laughing. Howling, actually.

There were still a great many gaps in his memory and something as scandalous as his Knights falling in love with the Princess' Guardians would certainly be the type of thing that both parties would want to keep firmly under wraps, but there were some Silver Millennium fairy tales he just couldn't believe, especially when juxtaposed to the reality of the modern day. Could Rei, poised, mature and proper, be able to listen to Jiro wax eloquent about his love for _Star Wars_ without damaging her optic nerves from excessive eye-rolling? Would Neil's crude language and brash behavior be too off-putting even for the tough-as-nails Makoto to endure for more than five minutes? And could shy, studious Ami even inhabit the same room as Zora without every last drop of blood in her body rushing to her face whenever he winked, moved, or heaven forbid, took his shirt off? The laughter faded however when his thoughts refocused on the central figure of this mental tangent.

Despite her status as leader of the Sailor Team, Minako was of her own admission an indiscriminate flirt and the closest thing to Cupid this side of a tacky Valentine's card. She was the Matchmaker-in-Chief; the self-styled Goddess of Love and Beauty who even in the face of her staggering devotion to Usagi and a prophesied destiny to always choose duty over love (which Mamoru found rather dubious considering how few prophecies about anything ever come true) would make damn sure, come hell or high water, that _everyone_ found their one true love even if she had to manufacture someone a soul mate out of papier-mâché and happy thoughts! He often thought that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Minako enjoyed the _idea_ of romance more than the actual experience of building and maintaining a relationship. Mamoru wondered, then, what sort of affect it would have on her eternally golden cheer to learn that Kunzite – Kaden—was alive. How would she react to seeing the man she professed to love again after fighting against him for so long and seeing him die right before her eyes mere seconds after she herself helped cleanse him of evil?

Mamoru had asked Usagi to show some restraint in revealing the Shitennou's return to her friends and not simply call each of their communicators screaming "The boys are back!" as she had done with every stranger in earshot on New Year's Eve. He had won a minor victory that night when he convinced her to leave her cell phone and other electronic gadgets at home so the two of them could spend a quiet, distraction-free evening of adult conversation and companionship with Motoki and Reika, but that idea went straight out the window when his beloved bun-head was introduced to the tequila Reika brought back from a recent trip to Mexico. Thanks to the deep tequila-sleep that night and the unfortunate hangover the next morning Usagi had been out of commission for quite a while, but after not having seen her since earlier that morning he was quite sure the news had now been disseminated. He even briefly toyed with the idea of inviting all of the girls to tonight's dinner for proper re-introductions, but considering the amount of elemental magic at their command coupled with the fact that the last time they saw the Shitennou they were trying to kill them, Mamoru wasn't sure his apartment would still be standing in the aftermath.

Still, it couldn't get much _worse_.

He filed away his anxiety over the Senshi's emotional health and refocused on his current anxiety of trying to present himself as a functional adult who was quite able to take care of himself during the Shitennou's absence, but in this he was failing. Mamoru was a mess of nerves for no discernible reason. He knew he felt comfortable around the Shitennou, he had thought as much mere moments ago, and he certainly didn't have anything to prove… but he _did_. These were the men that served him, hell, that pretty much _raised_ him in his ancient life. They taught him how to hold a sword, how to ride a horse, how to compose a sonnet, and how to be an honorable man. This was his chance to show them what he had become, what he had achieved and what he was capable of! Right now he was utterly incapable of making food.

Usagi had seen it this morning just before she left. She commented that Mamoru seemed tense and correctly predicted (maybe he'd put more stock into prophecy after all) that we would end up over-thinking and complicating things. Perhaps he could salvage the situation with some fancy take-out…

"You're not ordering take-out." He commanded himself, "And you can't call Makoto. You _know_ you can't call Makoto, so don't even think about it."

If one was meant to worry about talking to oneself, it would have to wait as Mamoru balled up his right fist, slammed it into his left palm and declared, "Time to man up."

He retrieved his phone from beneath the sad remains of an attempt at chicken marsala and quickly scrolled through the admittedly rather small contact list until his thumb rested above the name of his intended target. He wasn't proud of this, he wasn't sure if it was entirely proper, and he hated having to lean on charity in a moment of weakness, but desperate times and all that. He tapped the name and put the receiver to his ear.

* * *

"Back?" she asked.

"Back." She answered.

"Back?" Minako repeated, "As in _back_, back?"

"That's what I said!" Usagi scrunched her nose, confused in the face of Minako's confusion.

"Did you meet them?" Makoto asked cautiously as she continued washing a recently used mixing bowl at the kitchen sink while four other young women hovered nearby.

They had all received a cryptic text message from Usagi that morning informing her Guardians that she had something urgent to discuss with them and that they should all meet at Makoto's apartment as soon as possible. Usagi _never_ communicated through text message unless she was being deliberately secretive and a secretive Usagi, as Makoto had learned over the years, could be a stressful Usagi. Makoto dealt with stress in only one way: baking. It would be another twenty minutes before the quick batch of shortbread cookies were ready, but the cozy kitchen was already wafting with the sugary sweet scent.

"Yep!" she replied perkily, "They were all up on the roof at Crown on New Year's Eve! They live in the apartment right across from Motoki-kun!"

"Really?" Rei raised an eyebrow at that and looked down into her cup of tea contemplatively, "That's… convenient."

"Don't be a sour-puss, Rei-chan!" Usagi teased, "They were all super nice and funny and we spent all night talking, but I don't remember too much." She blushed and her voice fell several sheepish decibels, "Because I drank too much."

"Oh, Usagi." Ami delicately reprimand her, "You know that's not good for you!"

"But it was New Year's Ami-chan!" her princess' excuse was endearing despite Ami's practicality, "And besides, everyone was having a good time!"

"Were they?" Minako asked doing her best to hide her interest behind a leader's resolve.

"Uh-huh!" Usagi chirped, "Motoki even took pictures and sent them to me this morning!" Usagi frowned a bit, "Mamo-chan made me leave my phone at home on New Year's."

Usagi quickly navigated the app-infested forest of her smart phone to the picture folder and held up a group photo for the other girls to see. The photo depicted Mamoru front and center with an exuberant blonde teenager with striking blue eyes piggy-backed on top of him. He was flanked on either side by two tall, broad-shouldered men, one with a dark mane of hair and a red face full of New Year's good will (and whiskey), the other a towering Greek god with silver hair and a body that might as well have been chiseled marble he looked so stiff and stoic. To the right of the group stood a fourth man, lithe, impeccably dressed, and looking rather bored despite the smile on his face. A jubilant Usagi stood in the space between them, arms raised above her head, face blurry from apparently jumping up and down while the picture was being taken.

"Wow." Makoto was the first to react though the tone of her voice betrayed no clear emotion, "That's… surreal."

"They look so…" Ami studied the picture intently, "Different."

"They are different." Usagi stressed, "Look how happy they are! Rei-chan!" she shoved the phone in front of the priestess, "Look how cute Jiro looks!"

Rei didn't respond vocally. Her expression didn't even shift: hands folded on the counter, lips slightly pursed, not frowning or smiling, but also not completely blank. She simply stared past the photo over the top of the phone at Usagi silently communicating, "I know your game and I'm not playing."

"How could they just appear out of thin air like that?" Makoto interrupted the moment with a thought, "Wouldn't someone have noticed?"

"They've been living in town for a few months." Usagi clarified, "So it wasn't like 'Poof!' here we are!"

"Could it really be that simple?" Minako was uncharacteristically reserved during this whole conversation, "That they could just _come back_?"

"Well…" Usagi spoke knowing full well that the simplest answers were usually the best, "_We_ came back."

"We were taken to the Galaxy Cauldron." Ami reminded her, though she was still unsure herself of every event which transpired within that nebulous realm.

"And we had to fight Chaos to even have the opportunity to come back at all!" Makoto added.

"Well they came back about two years ago!" Usagi elaborated, "That was about the same time that everything happened with Sailor Galaxia, so maybe something happened and they got to come back too?"

"I would hope it were a simple coincidence like you say, Usagi." Ami was cautious, "But we can't rule out something sinister."

"Rei, you're awfully quiet." Makoto observed hoping the shrine maiden's insight might prove useful in making up her own mind about how she felt about this new development.

"I haven't sensed more than a whisper from any dark spirit in months." Rei revealed, "If I couldn't feel their auras, even if they had some evil agenda, I doubt they would pose a threat."

"They're not a threat!" Usagi was incredulous, "How could you even say that?" She held up the group photo once again as if to further illustrate her point while silently reiterating "Look how cute they are!"

"What did Luna say?" Ami wondered, "Did she and Artemis detect any unusual energy lately?"

"I, um…" Usagi shrank slightly into herself, "Didn't tell Luna yet."

"Hah!" Makoto laughed at once, "Luna doesn't like Usagi hanging around one guy let alone five!"

"She does too!" Usagi pouted, "She's just very picky! It took her a while to warm up to my Mamo-chan, but she loves him now and she'll love the boys too!"

"They _boys_?" Rei inquired.

"Usagi-chan," Ami gently interposed, "It might not be a good idea to act so familiar with them so quickly. We don't know that much about them."

"You're all just being a bunch of fussbudgets!" Usagi declared and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Excuse me?" Rei asked, the sound of the foreign word rubbing her in all the wrong ways.

"It's a word Neil taught me." Usagi beamed proudly, "It means you're all being cranky for the sake of being cranky!"

"I'm not cranky." Makoto shrugged.

"Neither am I!" Ami agreed, her tone a bit shocked.

"What about you, Minako-chan?" Usagi asked. Rei's silence was confirmation of her crankiness, but she was always cranky, so she let it slide.

"I'm, uh…" Minako spoke vacantly. Her eyes seemed fixed on a distant point on the horizon despite the fact that her position faced her squarely at Makoto's refrigerator. She pushed away from the wall where she was leaning and walked towards the apartment's common room.

"Minako?" Makoto called after her, hands still soapy with kitchen cleaning.

"Just gonna, you know." Minako gestured with her thumb towards the apartment's front door, "Step outside for a second. Need some air."

Usagi quickly scanned the equally concerned faces of the other women in the kitchen and immediately turned and chased after the normally bubbly blonde. In the hallway she found Minako once again leaning against a wall facing the door to Makoto's apartment. When she looked up she immediately forced the deeply contemplative look from her face and replaced it with a sad smile.

"Minako, what's wrong?" Usagi asked, dropping honorifics as she did when she was truly upset.

"It's nothing Usagi-chan." Minako failed to convince her.

"You stop that!" Usagi ordered and Minako looked up to see her Princess' eyes going glossy, "You worry about me enough; I'm allowed to worry about you!"

"You shouldn't worry." She assured her, "I'm okay, really. Just…"

"Well I am worrying so it's too late." Usagi was firm, "Tell me what's wrong!"

Minako took in a breath unsure of how to formulate her conflicted emotions into a coherent stream of words so she simply settled on one, "Kunzite."

"You mean Kaden." Usagi corrected.

"Kaden, right." Minako genuinely smiled at her slip-up, "You know how it is, Usagi."

"I do." She agreed having spent several days after first regaining her Princess memories referring to Mamoru Chiba exclusively as Endymion.

"I know I should be happy." She confessed and put strange stresses on the same string of words, "And I know why _you_ think I should be happy, but I don't think I _should_ be happy."

"Minako-chan, you're making less sense than usual." Usagi observed.

"I know, I'm just…" she paused, "Processing."

"What's to process?" Usagi asked honestly, blissfully unaware of any internal turmoil, "The boys are back and when you meet Kaden you'll see that he's a great guy, if a little stuffy, and you can be friends!" she playfully elbowed her friend in the ribs, "And then who knows?"

"Usagi…" Minako sighed and realized she wouldn't let up until she'd had the whole of it laid bare, "You were lucky. Mamoru was brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom, but it was over like that." Minako clicked her fingers to represent the scant few days that Tuxedo Mask was under the Dark Kingdom's control, "I fought against Kunzite for a lot longer."

"The Dark Agency." Usagi's face fell as she remembered, "Minako, I'm so sorry! I completely—"

"You don't have to apologize." She interrupted, "But it's just not the same as with you and Mamoru. Not everyone is meant to have that storybook romance."

"Minako Aino how dare you say that?!" Usagi scolded her, this time with a not so playful elbow to the ribs, "How can you of all people just give up on love?"

"Love?" Minako laughed surprised, "Usagi, I think you're reading a little too far into this."

"What do you mean?" Usagi demanded, "I remember when you told us about them! About how you would chase me when I ran away to the Earth and how you all met and fell in love!"

"Oh, Usagi." Mina looked disappointed, though specifically at herself, "You don't understand."

"Try me!"

"Look, there's what you and Mamoru have." Minako tried to explain, "And then there's what everyone else has."

"That…" Usagi stalled for a moment to analyze what she was just told, "That's a bunch of nonsense!"

"It's not the same." Minako repeated.

"I think you're just making excuses because you're nervous about meeting him again!"

"It wasn't easy for us even back then." The Senshi explained, "We were both leaders and we both knew that seeing each other was the absolute _worst_ thing we could do, but…" she didn't need to tell Usagi how she felt, "And besides, just because I remember something from a million years ago one way doesn't mean he does too."

"Well they seem to remember everything else." Usagi recalled, "You should just talk to him."

"What would I even say?" Minako fell into her guilt, "Not just to Him, but to any of them?" She shook her head remorsefully, "After all, I wanted to save them, but all I did was get them killed."

"Is that what has you upset?" Usagi tried to console her, but the Senshi would have none of it, "Minako, no—"

"If we hadn't restored their memories then Queen Metalia wouldn't have…" she hated thinking about that moment; she hated more to speak of it, "If we could have held them off a bit longer until you and Mamoru defeated Queen Metalia, maybe they wouldn't have had to die at all!"

"But you know that's not true!" Usagi cried with her friend, "Queen Metalia would have destroyed them anyway and all of you, too! It was because you healed them that we were able to beat Queen Metalia at all!" Minako glanced up into Usagi's face which spoke only of pride and gratitude, "When Kunzite appeared and showed us her weak spot!"

"He did do that, didn't he?" Minako fondly remembered.

"Minako, I know you better than this." Usagi reassured her, "It's a shock and you can try to deny it all you want, but you can't deny what's in your heart." She poked her friend in the chest for good measure which released a giggle, "You won't give up if it's what you want."

"It'll take time for me to decide what to do." She admitted, "Whatever I felt for him once… He's not the same person anymore. I've learned to live without him after all these years."

"Maybe it's time to learn to live with him again." Usagi suggested.

"Maybe." Minako laughed, the weight previously pressing down on her spirits now considerably lighter, "I just have to figure out what to say to him."

"Well." Usagi grinned knowingly, "You could start with hello."

* * *

"Hello?"

A split second after placing the call Mamoru wanted to hang up, his brain suddenly having decided that this was a bad idea and that not only would he be scrutinized into oblivion for asking for help in the first place, but that he would owe _them_ a favor. The fact that the phone line opened to silence was also not encouraging.

"Who's in trouble?" the brusque voice that answered asked in lieu of a proper greeting.

"Me." Mamoru sighed and immediately regretted the phone call, "Do you always have to be so negative?"

"Pragmatic." The woman's husky voice answered through the receiver, "Does it have something to do with the rock people?"

"Rock people?" Mamoru blinked.

"We're still working on nicknames." She confessed, "Is it about _them_?"

"Yes." Mamoru had to confide, now certain that Usagi had relayed the information that morning to absolutely everyone just as he assumed, "Kind of."

Mamoru's power of psychometry, the ability to read thoughts, feelings, and other sensations through touch, obviously did not work through the digital connection of a phone call, but he could nonetheless detect the grin spreading across the face of Haruka Tenoh on the other end of the line.

"What did they do?" She asked hopeful. Mamoru was pretty sure he heard the sound of knuckles cracking.

"Nothing, it's…" he stalled and realized how utterly pathetic and disjointed he sounded, "Something else."

"Did they try to steal your energy?" Haruka sounded positively giddy with excitement, "Or did they summon youma? _Please_ tell me its youma!"

"No, it's nothing like that." Mamoru attempted to diffuse the situation.

"Mamoru, you're disappointing me." She sounded honestly displeased, "I haven't used my transformation pen in _ages_…"

"You should meet them." Mamoru suggested, "I'm sure either Kaden or Neil would be thrilled to have a new sparring partner."

"Tempting, but I'll pass." Haruka dismissed his attempt at social interaction with the men the Outer Senshi most likely viewed with extreme skepticism as to their moral orientations, "Your guardians just came back into your life; it would be a shame to take one or more of them out of it so soon."

"So…" Mamoru stretched the syllable out as he gave his brain time to process the thinly veiled threat and then lurched back to the reason for his call, "This is a personal request."

"Fine!" she sighed in resignation, "What does my liege wish of me?"

"I need to put together a dinner party in the next six to eight hours." He confessed, "And I'm failing miserably. I was hoping you and Michiru with your, you know, more _elegant_ tastes could, um… maybe… help?"

"Elegant tastes, huh?" Haruka snickered at what Mamoru had hoped would come out sounding much less pandering, "I assume Makoto turned you down? This is the sort of opportunity she would jump at."

"We, uh, don't want to involve the other girls." Mamoru tried finding a diplomatic way to explain that—

"They haven't met yet?" Haruka interrupted his thoughts.

"They haven't met yet."

"Huh." She pondered, "Well absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that."

"Let's just… not go there right now." Mamoru pleaded knowing full well that any discussion of possible relationships among the Senshi and Shitennou would only end in a massive headache and pile of unwanted embarrassment, "Can you help me?"

"Michiru?" Haruka shouted without bothering to take the phone away from her mouth. Mamoru grimaced and after a moment he heard another voice join Haruka's through the recognizable tunnel-like compression of a speakerphone.

"Mamoru-san," Michiru greeted in that ethereal voice that Mamoru always associated with whatever gothic romance the woman had apparently been born from, "It's been so long! How are you?"

"The Prince needs our help throwing a dinner party for the rock people." Haruka quickly brought her partner up to speed, "Today."

"How bad is it?" Michiru inquired.

"Mamoru turn your phone on its side." Haruka ordered her future king and he obediently did as instructed.

A moment later the screen which was previously occupied by mundane phone call statistics filled with the face of the Outer Senshi as the call suddenly became a video conference. Haruka was smirking as she normally did and held the phone at just an oblique enough angle to hide Michiru's bare backside off screen as she hastily draped a robe over her previously disrobed body. Haruka did little to hide the fact that she was wearing an orange tee shirt and not much else. Mamoru's face went pale and he unconsciously tilted his own phone away from his to both hide their indiscretion and his own embarrassment. He assumed his call did not interrupt any specific… _activity_ that the two were involved in since Haruka did answer the phone, but he ever so briefly wondered what they _were_ doing that required so little clothing.

"Show us the kitchen, Mamoru." Michiru requested and Mamoru gladly pointed his phone anywhere but at his eyes. When Michiru registered the devastation her only reaction was, "Oh."

"What were you trying to do?" Haruka asked incredulous to the scale of the disaster.

"I don't even know." Mamoru whimpered.

"You're having this get-together tonight?" Michiru asked as if taking Mamoru's medical history.

"Yes."

"We're what, a two hour drive from the city?" Michiru asked and Haruka nodded the affirmative, "That only gives us, let's see with a grocery list and prep time…" Michiru quickly calculated, "We'd be cutting it really close to meet a dinner deadline." Haruka again nodded and bit her lower lip to stifle a grin, "So…"

"Helicopter?" the blonde eagerly suggested.

"Helicopter." Michiru was forced to concede.

"Helicopter?" was Mamoru's confused reply.

"Get the place ready, we'll be there soon!" Haruka announced as her normally sardonic and combative disposition became positively sunny.

"Wait, wait!" Mamoru pleaded, "I don't think you can land a helicopter on my building!"

But his pleas fell on deaf ears as the video went dark and the Outer Senshi disappeared from sight. His hand fell limp at his side and the future king of the planet who had strode into battle and vanquished countless foes all while wearing a top hat and tails stood shivering with dread in the middle of his once-neat apartment. He prayed that whatever political connections Haruka and Michiru cultivated ran deep enough to exonerate them from something as serious as airspace violations, or that they had enough of their mysterious wealth set aside for bribing whole police departments. With nothing else to do until the Valkyries descended upon him, he started idly shuffling pots and pans around to make himself feel better and at least present the illusion that he was attempting to clean up his mess. Once again he had a familiar thought.

"Kaden is going to kill me."


	5. Chapter Four

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"You done taking the curlers out of your hair yet, grandma?" Neil bellowed up the stairs to Zora's loft.

"My grandmother's hair was even more naturally gorgeous than my own, if you can believe it." Zora answered as he descended the stairs into Jiro's room, "So I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't meant as one." Neil sassed.

Zora tossed his rusty ponytail over one shoulder in a gesture meant to communicate his utter indifference to Neil's statement and therefore his very existence. The hour and a half that Zora indulged to decide his wardrobe for the evening resulted in a pair of straight legged corduroy pants, and a tight, fitted dark blue V-neck sweater which allowed only the collar and top button of a lighter blue oxford below to show. His ankle-high Alden boots clicked against the hardwood floor as he took up a customary leaning position against the doorway.

"Should I wear a tie?" Jiro wondered aloud as he contemplated his reflection in the darkened computer monitor.

"I'm not." Announced Neil, "I suspect Kaden will, though. I think ties are like his new safety blanket since modern society frowns upon wearing a shin-length cape in public."

"Well now that you mention it, maybe we _should_ wear ties." Zora considered, "We could wear our colors."

"No. _God_ no." Neil disagreed, "That's so fucking kitschy."

"When are we _not_?" Zora defended, "We've been color-coordinating our uniforms literally forever."

"These are just clothes." Neil stressed and tugged the front of his black button-down dress shirt for effect, "Not uniforms. And besides, our colors don't make any sense."

"Well I think Endy—" Zora began, immediately caught himself and swore, "Mamoru, fuck! Every god damned time…" He paused and took a deep breath, "I think _Mamoru_ would appreciate the gesture."

"I think he'd appreciate us _not_ reminding him of the time we spent as glowing pastel rocks on his night stand." Neil suggested.

"You know, come to think of it…" Jiro thought aloud, "Kunzite crystals are usually pink, so Kaden's color kind of makes sense."

"Well of course _his_ does." Neil rolled his eyes, "Never a cosmic thread out of place for Kaden."

"Why don't we make fun of him more often for his aura being pink?"

"I dunno, man." Neil grumbled, "It's no fun busting someone's balls who doesn't react."

"A person's aura is meant to reflect their inner spiritual being." Zora revealed, "It's those auras that truly identify us, not the stones that we once bore."

"If that's the case then I totally understand why your aura is green." Neil motioned to Zora, "The color of wealth, excess, envy and poison!"

"Green represents vitality, health and balance." Zora argued, "And I think that's quite preferable to the anger and aggression and insecurity represented by your particular aura."

"Red is passion." Neil retorted, "Red is power."

"Better dead than red." Zora quipped back.

"My aura is blue." Jiro commented smiling, "Everybody loves blue."

"And I suppose Kaden is pink because…" Zora pondered a moment

"He's a pretty-pretty princess?" Neil finished.

"I can hear you." Kaden informed the group through the wall he shared with Jiro's room.

"Good for you, pinky." Jiro joked. A disgruntled sigh followed.

"Speaking of, it's just Mamoru and the Princess tonight?" Zora asked from where he stood lazily against the door to his loft.

"Usagi." Kaden corrected as he stepped into Jiro's doorway, "Mamoru told me she doesn't particularly like being referred to as the Princess."

Kaden adjusted the French cuffs of his immaculately white dress shirt as he spoke. His cufflinks were plain silver squares to match his, as Neil correctly predicted, plain silver tie. He wore a dark grey three-piece suit with both a slim-cut jacket and vest which were all custom tailored to fully accentuate his broad, tall, frankly intimidating frame. To cap it off, his dress shoes were polished to a mirror shine and the laced knots were absolutely symmetrical.

"I thought we were going to dinner at Mamoru's apartment." Neil smirked, "Or do you have an appointment with some Lucky Strike executives?"

"Lucky Strike?" Kaden asked perplexed.

"Neil has been watching _Mad Men_." Zora yawned, "He identifies strongly with the main characters who are all chauvinistic alcoholics."

"Fucking show is the _best_." Declared Neil.

"Do I need to remind you that tonight is a night for politeness and civility?" Kaden warned.

"Hey, Fearless Leader." Neil shot back, "Do I need to remind you that we were invited to a dinner _party_, which implies fun and therefore relaxation?"

"Polite and civil fun." Kaden reiterated.

"Politely remove the giant, thorny civilized stick from your ass." Neil offered, "You don't have to tell us _not_ to be a bunch of dicks to our Master."

"Can I get that in writing?" Kaden asked seriously.

"Kaden, is something wrong?" Zora asked in a moment of honest concern.

"No, why?"

"Because you're acting, well…" he paused for a more democratic phrasing which didn't come, "You've been acting kind of like… Kunzite."

"Zora!

"Yeah, yeah I know you don't like hearing the name." Zora waved off his reprimand, "But you're like an overprotective, stodgy parent the way you keep directing us how to behave."

"Honestly, we're not children." Jiro added. Three sets of eyes turned to glare at him, "I'm _twenty-one_!"

"If it's apparent to me, it will be apparent to him." Kaden countered, "None of you can argue that the standard of etiquette in this apartment has become quite lax."

"Yeah, our standard of etiquette is lax because it's 2016." Neil reminded him, "As long as we occasionally hold a door open, say please and thank you, and keep our elbows off the table the rest of the world would consider us god damned chivalrous."

"Regardless, we should show our Master the proper respect." Kaden continued, "And our conduct should befit our status as his Knights."

"So what, do you expect to get down on one knee after dinner and be sent on a quest?"

"I just want us at our best." Kaden stood firm, "Our initial meeting was spontaneous, sheer chance, and most of us were, shall we say, _impaired_ that evening. This is our chance to show Mamoru who we truly are, what we've accomplished and what we're capable of!"

"What I'm capable of is having a good time." Neil replied, "So if Mamoru decides our after-dinner entertainment will be a rousing bout of beer pong, I'm not going to decline because of your ancient, manufactured sense of decorum."

"If our Master suggests playing beer pong I'll eat my tie." Kaden spat.

Neil retorted with a hearty laugh, "Can I get _that_ in writing?"

* * *

"What do you _mean_ the Four Kings have returned?"

"Why didn't you call the other Guardians? What were you _thinking_?"

"You _DRANK_ with them? What if they had poisoned your beer?"

"You can't simply throw caution to the wind just because Mamoru is happy!"

"I can't believe you're having dinner with them now!"

"What if they poison your _food_? What if they're _vampires_?! We don't know anything about them!"

"You can't go to this dinner, it's too dangerous. I forbid it!"

"We need more time to assess a possible threat; I forbid it too!"

Normally the two creatures before her displayed complimentary personalities: one careful, practical and rigid, the other carefree and somewhat lazy. They were two sides of the same coin, yin and yang, black and white as their fuzzy feline coats (which Usagi would _not_ be nuzzling anytime soon after this tongue-lashing) would suggest. Today they were the perfect harmonious duo of overreaction and arrogant distrust. Usagi stood by for a solid five minutes, arms folded in defiance as Luna and Artemis snapped and squabbled and berated her judgment in every possible fashion until their rough little kitty tongues were dry with exhaustion.

"You two can be so stubborn!" Usagi admonished the cats after their rant had ended, "Honestly, you're acting like they did something horrible to me!"

"They got you drunk!" Luna shot back.

"_I_ got me drunk." Usagi admitted, "And all we did was talk and laugh and ring in the New Year!"

"What did you talk about? Battles? The other Sailor Senshi? Chaos?" Artemis pried, "Did they ask about the Ginzuishou?"

"Yes, they asked me where I kept it." Usagi frowned and summoned up a stream of mock tears, "And that I had to hand it over to them if I ever wanted to see my friends alive again!"

"Usagi this isn't funny!" Luna rebuked her, "You put yourself in unnecessary danger!"

"Oh Luna, when will you stop being such a scaredy-cat?" Usagi wiped the fake tears from her eyes with her shirt sleeve, "You know I can take care of myself. You taught me how!"

"That's no excuse to be reckless and arrogant." Artemis warned, "Could you imagine how we – how the other girls would feel if something had happened to you? After everything we've been through?"

For a moment Usagi felt a twinge of remorse and wondered if her actions the other night were truly born from arrogance or selfishness, but she immediately pushed Artemis' scare tactic aside.

"You're not afraid that something could have happened to me." Usagi winked, "You're afraid of what might happen to Minako."

"What do you mean by that?" Artemis' fur bristled along with his voice.

"You boys are so easy to read." Usagi chirped, "You're worried that Minako might fall in love with Kaden again!"

"Th- That's ridiculous." Artemis replied thankful that his coat of fur obscured the flush forming on his feline face.

"Admit it, you're not scared; you're anxious that the other girls will find true love!" Usagi swooned, "Just like you two did!"

"That has nothing to do with this, Usagi." Luna's voice did not waver in the slightest, "We are your advisors, not your relationship counselors, and these men suddenly coming back into our lives is suspicious to say the least!"

"Well then _advise_ me, don't just yell at me!" Usagi demanded, "What do _you_ think I should do?"

"I think you should be cautious." Luna did as asked, "I think you should keep your distance and I don't think you should be so trusting just because of their supposed connection to Mamoru."

"Well I think you need to be more trusting!" Usagi counter-advised, "After all, they were Endymion's Knights! They have special names and titles; they aren't bad guys!"

"There _weren't_ bad guys." Artemis stressed, "But that was two lifetimes ago. They've been corrupted and brainwashed so many times we can't be sure if the people you met have any _trace_ of the Knights they once were left inside them!"

"Mamo-chan trusts them." Usagi stated with finality, "And so _I_ trust them."

"Usagi…" Luna began to debate.

"They wouldn't have come back." Usagi immediately argued, "They wouldn't have spent _two years_ searching for their Master if they were still evil!"

"What if they wanted to find him just for revenge?" Artemis challenged her logic, "After all, serving Endymion is what landed them in the Dark Kingdom in the first place."

Luna added, "What if they're just acting friendly to put you off guard while they wait for the perfect moment to strike?"

"And what if they're not?" Usagi sobbed and this time the tears were all too real, "What if they are trying to make things right? If they just want to be normal people again and they missed their best friend?" Usagi wiped her eyes and caught sight of one of the many group photos of herself, Mamoru and the other girls that adorned her walls, "Is that really how we want to welcome them home? With questions of revenge?"

In the presence of Usagi's sorrow neither of the cats could fashion a reply. Luna's heart suddenly weighed heavy in her chest and she once again had to remind herself as she often did that Usagi Tsukino was no longer the innocent, clumsy, starry-eyed fourteen year old girl she once knew. She was Sailor Moon, a legendary warrior of love and justice, a strong independent young woman who was well on her way to becoming a lover, mother, and queen. Luna's teachings over the years always stressed that Usagi's greatest strength was within her heart: her love and compassion, her faith in herself, her friends, and humanity in general. Who was she indeed to question that faith now?

"Serenity-hime." Luna bowed her head reverentially, "Moushiwake arimasen."

"You don't have to apologize, Luna." Usagi's mood lightened considerably and she bent down to be eye-level with her feline friend, "And _certainly_ not like that."

"You should get used to it." Luna forced a smile, "You will be queen sooner than later."

"Maybe someday." Usagi agreed and then instantly perked up, all thoughts of melancholy banished, "But tonight I'm just the hostess and I have a dinner party to get to!"

"Have fun, Usagi." Luna wished.

"And please be—" Artemis added as the slam of the bedroom door cut his sentence short, "—careful."

"Artemis." Luna spoke after several long moments of silence after Usagi's departure, "Do you ever worry about the way we trained our Sailor Guardians?" she turned to look at him with an odd mixture of pride and pain on her face, "That maybe we put too much emphasis on trusting their hearts over their heads?"

"Constantly." Artemis acknowledged. He then added with a smile, "But we're still here. That's got to count for something…"

* * *

In the ancient days of the Silver Millennium the Sailor Senshi were sometimes viewed as goddesses by the mortal population of the Earth that they protected. Queen Serenity herself was said to be an incarnation of Selene. Mamoru couldn't recall in his past life as Endymion if he personally ever bought into the stories of the all-powerful Guardians, but several hours after placing a desperate phone call to Haruka and Michiru he bore witness to an event that could only be described as miraculous. Watching the women work, turning his ruined apartment and failed attempts at dinner into nothing short of a five-star feast befitting a head of state (which incidentally he was… or at least _would_ be someday) Mamoru was once again reminded of how easily the two women, indeed all of the Sailor Senshi, could be labeled as mythical warrior goddesses.

Mamoru thought back several years to the moment when the Outer Senshi, specifically Uranus and Neptune, first appeared. In those days he often wondered if Usagi and her Guardians ever felt threatened or diminished by the presence of the newcomers. The Inner Senshi had grown and evolved and trained together for years to become effective soldiers. They endured many hardships, learned difficult lessons and sometimes only managed to triumph through sheer force of will. The Outer Senshi, however, arrived fully-formed, effortlessly agile, highly refined, and immensely powerful. Not only were they on average faster, stronger and in most ways better soldiers than their Inner counterparts, but their private civilian lives were equally larger than life as evidence if in no other way than their stunning arrival at his apartment via personal helicopter.

The rash Haruka, a Guardian whose sheer power and strength gave even Sailor Jupiter a run for her money, was something of an adrenaline junkie who loved fast cars and martial arts, but outwardly displayed a rather aloof nature. However, behind her mischievous, occasionally arrogant exterior she hid a young, cultured woman who also enjoyed classical music and fencing and was fiercely protective of anyone she held dear and would not hesitate to use her elemental power to shake the Earth off its axis if it meant protecting a loved one. Michiru similarly was being of classical sophistication whose elegant manner could sometimes make her appear otherworldly, as if she were a fairytale princess given life. She was a consummate artist and though she could seem the pinnacle of cultured refinement, the soldier of Neptune could display a fierce temper which manifested through the awesome power of the oceans at her command. The actual otherworldly Guardian of Time, Setsuna, seemed to exist in a wholly separate reality from the rest of the world, despite the fact that she inhabited and interacted with it on a daily basis. Mamoru used to wonder if she were even human at all, not because of her awe-inspiring power over the flow of time, but the presence of mind and staggering discipline it took to _not_ use those powers. Even the youngest member of their close-knit group, their adopted child Hotaru who could appear as slight in body as to be considered frail, was nonetheless the single most terrifying Senshi in the Solar System. It seemed a cruel irony to Mamoru that such a small, innocent creature as Hotaru Tomoe would be forced to bear the weight of such a power as death and rebirth. Of course, there was the notion that Hotaru and Sailor Saturn were two wholly separate personalities inhabiting the same body, but such metaphysical ruminations routinely brought on headaches so Mamoru decided it was time to switch mental topics to what he should have been paying attention to in the first place:

"You are playing both host and server, so you will need to follow certain guidelines." Mamoru's every synapse was focused on remembering Michiru's instructions as he straightened a fork on its place setting which was already perfectly straight, "The most important rule is to resist the urge to let your guests help you…"

"That seems… Illogical." Mamoru observed.

"What's illogical is arguing with Michiru's command of social etiquette." Haruka advised as she stood watching her partner walk Mamoru through the evening's required rituals.

"This is _your_ party." Michiru stressed, "You're doing it _for_ _them_. You _want_ to shoulder the responsibility."

"Well, yes I do." Mamoru answered, "It's just going to feel awkward when Kaden offers to help me with, um, _everything_ and I have to tell him no."

"Facing down the awkwardness will build character." Michiru philosophized and then continued her lesson, "Now, Usagi is your hostess so she will greet your guests as they arrive." She led Mamoru into the living room, "You will have to play the part of a housekeeper and take their coats, but then you're immediately back here to mingle."

She spun Mamoru around by the shoulders so they were both facing the kitchen, "Once everyone is here, they're greeted and they're chatting, it's time for drinks." She grabbed a tray full premixed beverages in a range of glassware from a nearby table and pointed to each one in turn, "We're keeping our options simple: classic vodka or gin martini for the serious drinkers, wine or champagne for the intermediates, and the rum punch we made for everyone else."

"What if they don't drink?" Mamoru worried.

"Everybody drinks." Michiru assured him.

"I'm never going to remember which glass is for which drink." he hesitated, "Can I make—" Michiru presented a small stack of 3x5 cards, "—flash cards."

"You need to relax." He was coached, "Or your guests will feel your stress and the whole night will have an undercurrent of unwanted tension."

"In that case." Mamoru grabbed a cocktail glass from Michiru's tray and downed the vodka martini in one gulp. A sizeable shudder followed.

"Do you have security cameras in here?" Haruka asked and cocked her head to inspect the ceiling of the Spartan apartment.

"No, why?"

"I just _really_ want video evidence of what happens tonight."

"Mamoru, focus." Michiru ordered and centered his attention on her, "After drinks it's time for dinner. We call it a cocktail hour, but you don't want to run a stopwatch. Don't command, just say 'Dinner is ready' and everyone will fall in line. Make sure the candles are lit and everyone's water glasses are filled before they get to the table."

The pair walked to the table which was already arrayed with expensive place settings of china loaned from Haruka and Michiru's own collection. Two stately pewter candelabra occupied central balanced positions on the table which was otherwise bereft of adornment. The sheer number and volume of different utensils on display was immediately troubling to the apartment dweller who generally used the same knife and fork for every meal. Michiru picked up a large decorative plate from one of the settings and held it out in front of her.

"This is the service plate." She instructed and set it back down on the table, "All other plates get served _on top_ of this one. When you serve, you serve from the left." Michiru demonstrated, "Counter-clockwise, starting with the guest of honor: the person sitting to your immediate right."

"Usako."

"No." Michiru snapped.

"No?" Mamoru was almost irritated.

"Usagi will be at the opposite end of the table." Michiru indicated, "Kaden will be your guest of honor. Sitting next to him will be Neil, and then your friend Motoki."

"Wait, shouldn't we keep Motoki and Reika together?" Mamoru puzzled.

"No, we want to separate the couples." Michiru explained, "Because if we don't, couples tend to isolate themselves." She continued, "To your left will be Reika, then Jiro, then Zora."

"That's…" Mamoru considered the seating arrangement for a moment, "Sensible."

"That's why you hired us." Haruka quipped.

"Now, continuing." Michiru redirected his attention yet again, "When you remove plates, you remove from the _right_. Serve from the left, remove from the right."

"I think I can remember that one." Mamoru announced with genuine confidence.

"Appetizer first, soup second." She continued, "Making sure you keep everyone's wine and water glasses topped off between servings. Also, no other plates or dishes on the table except for the current course. The main course comes next, followed by salad."

"That confuses me." Mamoru admitted, "Salad after dinner?"

"Trust me, this element will confuse everyone." Michiru agreed, "But it is the detail that takes your dinner party from merely being a dinner _party_ to being a _dinner_ party."

"It's the French way of doing it." Haruka interjected.

"It's the French way of doing it." Michiru repeated, "And it's the _right_ way."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Now," Michiru continued, "When you remove the salad plate, you also remove the service plate. Finally, dessert is placed directly on the table."

"Why?"

"It just is, Mamoru." Michiru sighed in spite of her seemingly boundless patience, "After dinner you'll have coffee and other drinks, but you want everyone to head back to the living room for that." She deeply stressed the following, "When dinner is finished, _**don't**_ clear the table. You'll deal with that later after your guests have left. If anyone offers to help you clean up now, what do you say?"

"No." Mamoru frowned.

"Very good." She congratulated and held out another small stack of cards, "Here are your notes for serving each course."

"Oh, you're beautiful." Mamoru graciously accepted.

"Watch it, cowboy." Haruka lazily threatened.

"Okay I think that covers it!" Michiru clapped her hands together in triumph, "Do you need to go through it again?"

"No, I suppose I'll be able to stumble my way through tonight." Mamoru murmured.

"Any questions?" she double-checked, "Everyone will start arriving in about an hour."

"Yeah." He pouted, "Can you stay?"

"I'll prep the helicopter." Haruka answered with a cocksure chuckle.

"There comes a time when a king must slay the dragon himself to prove to his knights that he is worth following." Michiru illuminated.

"That doesn't make me feel better at all!" Mamoru gasped.

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown."

* * *

Motoki ran his hand caressingly over the serving counter of the Crown Fruit Parlor. The arcade where so many momentous events in his young life occurred was an addition made in the 1980's, but the original boutique restaurant remained at the center of business. Crown was something of a local landmark in the Azabu-Juuban district as ubiquitous itself as the kindly young man in the white apron who had worked there since childhood. His parents may have established the business decades ago, but after their retirement it was now, fully, Motoki's property. His hand traced over the glass display cases where fresh fruit salads and delectable parfaits would be placed during business hours. He thought of the sweet smells, the tang of the melons, and the rainbow of colors in the locally famous desserts. Finally he made his way to the small kitchen area where he would prepare the modest amount of cooked foods on offer, some of the more recent additions to the establishment's menu in an attempt to offer a more diverse selection. Recalling the faces of the regular customers, the tourists, and all the other employees that had come and gone Motoki smiled. The shop was in his blood, it was his pride and joy and even though he lived in the apartments above, Crown had been his home.

Somewhere deep down in the recesses of his consciousness he felt the pangs of guilt; the incessant call to stop, go back upstairs to his apartment and sleep off this sudden bout of insanity. The cries were easily quelled, however and Motoki reached out casually and turned one valve, then a second which started the flow of gas into the flat top grill. His hands disappeared into the pockets of his slacks and he stood watching the silent invisible vapors as they leeched their way into the air.

"Motoki-kun?" a voice from behind called his attention.

"Reika!" he was startled and spun on his heels to face where she stood near the front door.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked excitedly, "Mamoru and Usagi are expecting us for seven."

"Yes, sorry." He apologized and moved to join her at the door, "Did the, um, _Kings_ leave yet?"

"Yes, I heard them pounding down the stairs about twenty minutes ago." She giggled, "We can be the couple that arrives fashionably late."

"Right." He answered distantly.

"Are you okay?" she tilted his chin up at the same time his eyelids fluttered several times.

"Little bit of a headache." He lied, "I haven't eaten yet today."

"You work too hard; you shouldn't skip meals." She advised and turned back towards the door, "But knowing Usagi there will be enough food tonight to stuff you good for a week!"

"I hope so!" he forced his voice into the realm of cheerfulness it was so often associated with.

He followed Reika out the front door and methodically flicked off the light switch as he passed. He pulled the outer door closed and inserted the key; the tumblers gave a heavy _clack_ as the door locked tight. Motoki looked up and caught the reflection of Reika in the glass as he watched her hail a taxi over one shoulder. He centered his vision and looked over his own reflection with a satisfied smile.

Burning red eyes smiled back.


	6. Chapter Five

_DVD Commentary: Hello all, sorry this one took a bit longer to post than I would have liked, but I'm in the process of moving to a badass new apartment so, you know, my excuse game is pretty strong right now. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who has been reading &amp; reviewing. I'm just now starting to respond to reviews, so if you haven't heard from me yet don't despair. As Willie Nelson says, "You are always on my mind…" In an appreciative way, not a stalkier-ish way._

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Hot shit!" Neil rather rudely exclaimed as the main course was set before him, "Look at that cut of meat!" He attacked the filet with an aggressive jab of his fork and set to sawing into it without waiting for the rest of the table to be served, "That's why I call this man Prince!"

Mamoru smiled, but had neither the presence of mind nor heart to admit to his outspoken companion that the steak entree had in fact been prepared by a pair of magical super women. Not that he doubted their culinary skill in any way, but rather that Neil might take some oddly old-fashioned macho offense to the knowledge that his steak was seared by Senshi and not his Prince. He did not relish the prospect of an argument over which sex could prepare charred meat in superior fashion, especially since the night had been going so well. More or less...

In truth of fact, Mamoru was failing miserably to keep up with the strict rules of etiquette Michiru attempted to instill in him; even the idiot-proof flash cards couldn't save him. He had forgotten the order of service, he had forgotten to refill drinks, he had neglected to clear plates from previous courses, and he bowed to popular opinion to serve the salad before the main course and not after because what was THAT all about? Finally and most damningly, he had broken the host's cardinal rule almost immediately, allowing Kaden to assist in all aspects of the dinner when the elder man wordlessly forced his way into the kitchen and co-opted serving duties right after the appetizers. Still, formal faux pas aside, the night was going well. And it wasn't like anyone noticed that Mamoru was reaching to impress with this dinner party and had gotten completely in over his head. More than once he had to stop and wonder why he didn't just order a few pizzas to spend the night congregated on the couch reminiscing rather than shouldering all this high-class anxiety.

Thinking back, Mamoru had been nervous about the night not so much for his performance as a worldly and hospitable dinner host, but over what sort of reaction he and The Guys would have to seeing each other again in a more formal (and less inebriated) setting. It was hard to believe it had only been a matter of days since their sudden reunion on the roof of Crown. They had fallen into their pattern of easy camaraderie so quickly that Mamoru was afraid to question it lest that initial meeting be revealed as a fluke and that rebuilding these relationships would be much harder and more painful than he could bear. Thankfully, however, those concerns seemed to be manufactured by an overworked imagination. The Guys as he was calling them (since he could not come to a personal consensus on whether Knights, Kings, or Shitennou were still acceptable labels in the 21st century) were more or less just as he remembered them, personality-wise. Obviously they wore different names these days, but they were unmistakably the men –no, the _friends_ he had known.

At that thought, he briefly felt a twinge of emotion, somewhere between embarrassment and regret, for inviting Motoki and Reika to dinner as a thinly-veiled buffer between himself and the four men just in case things hadn't gone as well as they had. Fortunately, or unfortunately as far as anything but Mamoru's neuroses were concerned, the young couple had quite abruptly pulled out of the evening's plans just an hour before leaving two empty places at the table with no other non-Senshi friends to fill the vacancies. Mamoru felt a second pang of conscience as he considered how his good friend, _best_ friend really, must have felt when four strangers were suddenly revealed as something like long-lost family to Mamoru. He never stopped to consider that Motoki might now feel very much like a fifth wheel. Now was not the time to broach the subject of course, but he made a mental note to seek Motoki out and confirm to him that he was still as important as ever, even now that Mamoru had more than one friend.

"I hope Reika-chan is okay." Usagi pouted and poked a head of steamed broccoli with an apathetic fork.

"Motoki didn't mention what was wrong when he called?" Kaden inquired.

"No, only that Reika had suddenly come down with a fever and that they would have to miss dinner." Mamoru answered, "It's too bad. She'll be leaving town again soon."

"What does she do that she's always out of town?" Jiro asked.

"She's in the middle of a ten-year graduate study program in Europe." Mamoru answered, "Archaeology and paleontology. She's been on expeditions all over the world."

"She was the first person I was able to have an adult conversation with in years." Zora reminisced back to New Year's Eve.

"If by adult conversation you mean the usual collection of empty platitudes you spill whenever you're in the presence of someone more successful than you." Neil verbally backhanded his companion.

"Polite and civil." Kaden quietly reminded them.

"Oh lighten up, cupcake." Neil ordered and walloped the older man open-palm square in the center of his back as hard as humanly possible. The sting of the blow would have put anyone else on the floor. Kaden didn't even flinch.

"Neil, I have a strict policy against murdering my comrades before our Master's eyes." Kaden warned him evenly, "I'm shockingly close to reconsidering that."

"Guys, I already told you." Mamoru blushed deeply, "You don't have to call me Master."

"It's a reflex." Jiro shrugged, "And you can't say it doesn't sound right."

"It _does_ sound right." Usagi agreed seeing how much the adoration embarrassed her beloved and finding it increasingly charming.

"You might as well just get used to it, Master." Zora continued as the red shade of Mamoru's visage continued to flare brighter.

"I've got no problem calling him Mamoru." Neil concluded, "It's a badass name."

"Um… thank you?" Mamoru was unsure how to take that comment, "But I am serious." Mamoru stressed and forced the embarrassment away, "We have to be cautious what we say when other people are around."

"Mamoru…" Zora tisked, "How careless do you think we are?"

"If Motoki and Reika had attended this evening we certainly would not have called you Master in their presence." Kaden assured him, "You don't have to worry about impropriety."

"So no Master-ing unless it's just the four of us?" Mamoru asked.

"And me!" Usagi chirped.

"Yes." Kaden promised.

"Well…" Mamoru allowed himself a tiny, prideful smile, "I guess I can live with that."

He could _absolutely_ live with that; the friendship if four men he had all but given up on as lost to the past who even after two lifetimes of trials and grief nonetheless still called him Master. If there was anyone alive who couldn't live with such devotion they needed their heads examined.

"You gonna eat that?" Neil pointed with his fork at the still-untouched, perfectly seared, medium-rare, tender, juicy, decadent mass of protein that was Zora's steak, "Or are you going through some stupid-ass vegan phase?"

"Some of us like to enjoy our food when we eat it." Zora sassed.

"You have to taste it to enjoy it." Neil sassed back.

"I eat clockwise around my plate, you know that." Zora reminded him.

"Right, it's on my short list of annoying personality quirks that I have to beat out of you." Neil quickly replied, "And it's getting cold. I can't allow you to waste good meat."

"Don't you dare." Zora warned.

Neil lunged with his fork. Zora reacted instantly and parried the attack with his steak knife. The knife caught between the tines of the fork and he twisted it violently to pull the utensil out of Neil's grasp. Undaunted, Neil reached across the table with his bare hand and attempted to seize the filet whole. Zora stabbed at him with the steak knife to an audible gasp from Mamoru and an excited yelp from Usagi. Neil dodged the blows, feinted, and in a roundhouse flourish snatched the steak off Zora's plate, took a bite that accounted for a full half of the filet's weight and ignominiously replaced it on Zora's plate, teeth marks and all. He threw his hands up in victory and let out a muffled cheer through a mouth full of stolen steak.

"You son of a bitch!"

"That's what you get for leaving your flank open." Kaden observed and Zora's eyes went wide.

"You're taking his side?!" he fumed.

"You guys are so silly!" Usagi laughed heartily at the men's antics.

"We've got extra since Motoki and Reika couldn't come." Mamoru said, always the mediator, "I'll get you a new one."

"No!" Neil argued, "Let him wallow in his shame."

"Can I have the other half?" Jiro asked and tentatively reached his fork towards Zora's violated filet.

"BACK OFF!" the vengeful king ordered and leveled his steak knife at Jiro's approaching instrument.

"Shhh!" Mamoru shushed and his voice lurched into a whisper, "I have neighbors!"

"You could order them to stop." Kaden playfully prodded.

"Don't tempt me."

"So… Guys?" Usagi began and her tone was quietly reserved, "I know you probably won't want to answer this and I totally understand if it's too personal of a question, but there's been something I've wanted to ask you about ever since you came back…"

Mamoru's throat rapidly went dry and he perceived the spines of the four men gathered around his kitchen table immediately stiffen. This was the question he knew was coming. It was the elephant in the room; the albatross around his neck. He had quietly hoped that Usagi would delay broaching the subject at least until proper introductions had been made, but he stopped short of flat-out asking her to do so. Still, he couldn't blame her. There was only so much self-control the beautiful young woman possessed for these sorts of things, wrath of the other Senshi be damned. He braced himself for the storm.

_Are you still in love with the Sailor Guardians?_

"What kind of magic powers do you have?!"

He was so prepared for the question he thought was coming that he almost didn't even hear the one that was asked. If the reactions of the four men surrounding him were anything to go by, there were equally as surprised.

"Usako, I don't know if that's really a dinner conversation." Mamoru gently tried to nudge her interest back to more conventional territory.

"No, of course it is!" A sudden, broad grin drew across Jiro's face and he practically leapt out of his seat in excitement.

"Settle down, Jiro." Kaden advised.

"Kaden?" Mamoru asked confused by his reaction to Jiro's enthusiasm.

"Just to warn you: there's a speech that goes along with what he's about to say." Neil commented, "And I'm really not in the mood to hear it again."

"Why, what are you talking about?" Mamoru requested.

"We possess only a fraction of the powers we once had both as Knights of the Golden Kingdom and as Queen Beryl's subordinates." Kaden illuminated, "But we have all agreed—" Jiro loudly and defensively cleared his throat, "—_unanimously_ that we would not exercise our powers unless called upon by you."

"I understand." Mamoru nodded.

"Well you don't have to _do_ anything." Usagi stressed, "I'm just curious! I'm sure you never get to talk about this kind of stuff; I know I don't."

"Well…" Zora began, unable to resist Usagi's infectious charm, "At one time we could all teleport – to any place on the Earth just by thinking about it. Unfortunately it seems like we've lost that ability considering we took a taxi to get here."

Usagi chuckled, "What about special attacks? Do you all have your own phrases that you say?"

"Usako, Earth magic isn't like Senshi magic." Mamoru told her warmly.

"So no Earth Tiara Boomerangs?" Usagi pretend-pouted.

"Our powers are – _were_ very different from the Senshi." Kaden explained, "More metaphysical than elemental."

"Really?" Usagi was rapt, "What could you do?"

"I could create youma." Jiro announced.

"Youma?!" Usagi screeched in alarm, "Youma are evil!"

"Not necessarily!" Jiro defended and quickly backtracked, "What I should have said is that I could create clay dolls. In the Dark Kingdom they became youma, but in the past when we served Endymion they were our soldiers. We could fight wars with armies of clay; much safer than forcing people to fight!"

"Yeah it was great." Neil agreed with a roll of his eyes, "Unless our enemies had, you know, _water_."

"Well I'm sorry I couldn't use my asshole projection to Twilight Zone them to death!" Jiro returned the jab.

"That sounds like a troubling skill." Mamoru lightly joked.

"_Astral_ projection. That was my specialty." Neil answered, "I could project my consciousness outside of my body to pretty much anywhere."

"It was utterly useless except for spying on courtesans bathing in the hot springs." Zora yawned.

"It was very useful for stealth reconnaissance and divination." Neil defended himself, "And of course projecting my thoughts towards the stars made me the kingdom's foremost astrologer."

"Astrology is bullshit." Jiro argued.

"Funny, I recall a blonde little ankle-biter always hounding me to predict how each and every one of his courtship adventures would turn out." Neil teased.

"And I recall the kingdom's foremost astrologer using his lofty position as a revolving door for every innocent, doe-eyed milkmaid in the country to come to his tower and make the worst mistake of their young lives." Zora sassed.

"At least I didn't have to use a Jedi mind trick on them to get them into bed." Neil returned fire.

"Huh?" Usagi puzzled.

"My power, Usagi, was more subtle than these two brutes." Zora explained, "I could—"

"He's psychic and it's creepy." Jiro interrupted, "Next!"

"What, you're psychic?!" Usagi seemed overjoyed by this revelation, "Can you tell what I'm thinking?"

"Unfortunately, no." Zora answered and winked obviously in Mamoru's direction. His Master simply buried his face in his palms to hide the immediate flush of embarrassment caused by the silent tease, "I was more adept at influencing thoughts, not reading them."

"That's so amazing." Usagi was still stunned, "You all have such interesting skills; you shouldn't hide them!"

"It's not that we hide them, Usagi-chan." Jiro told her, "It's more that we have no need to use our powers, if we even still can!" He smiled warmly, "You and your Guardians have seen to it that there are no more enemies to face."

"Suck up." Neil weakly disguised the jab with a cough. Usagi merely laughed it off.

"Kaden, what about you?" Usagi pried, "What can you do?"

"He can whine." Neil immediately answered.

"And nag." Jiro added.

"And clean." Zora finished, "Compulsively."

"I can manipulate energy." Kaden answered methodically, "Queen Metalia's curse gave all of us this ability to some degree, but I was the only one capable of it during the Silver Millennium." He cocked his head and smirked, "Such a talent was common among the Sailor Senshi and the people of the Moon Kingdom, but on Earth… It was often rumored that I wasn't human."

"Really?" Neil feigned astonishment, "With your silver hair, marble physique and eternally sunny disposition?"

"Queen Serenity had hair like yours." Usagi remembered, "Maybe you were from the Moon and didn't know it!"

"If that were true it might make him your brother, Usagi." Neil told her and then shuddered, "Could you imagine? Being roommates with him is bad enough."

"Ugh, but to be related?" Jiro added, "To suffer through Kaden's awkward teenage years?"

"I was never awkward." Kaden defended and took a sophisticated sip of his wine.

"Really? What do you call _this_?" Neil asked and gestured seemingly to Kaden's entire existence.

"You guys are so mean to him!" Usagi pouted and threw her support behind the eldest of the four, "I think he would have made a good brother!"

"Except he would never have let you go on any dates. _Especially_ not with Endymion." Jiro faked a doleful tone of voice, "And he would have insisted you fill every spare moment with study and debate."

"Would you?" Usagi asked the older man looking positively crushed.

"Well…" Kaden uneasily cleared his throat under her melting gaze, "To better oneself is a most noble pursuit—"

"Kay-chaaaan!" Usagi wailed, "I trusted you!"

"Kay-chan!" Jiro nearly choked on his laughter.

"That's priceless!" Neil howled and locked the new nickname away in his memory for all time, "Oh buddy, just try to live this one down!"

"What? What did I do?" Usagi asked.

"You made a wonderful night better." Zora thanked her, "As I'm sure Kay-chan will agree."

"Thank you, Usagi." Kaden politely spoke and then turned to his companions, "Of course I will only reply to this name when spoken by our gracious hostess."

"Well your gracious host thinks it's time for dessert!" Usagi clapped her hands together and her head spun at breakneck speed to face Mamoru, "Don't you think so, Mamo-chan?"

"I suppose, unless you're all too full?" Mamoru grinned excitedly. Unknown to the rest of the guests in his home the dessert involved a rather excessive amount of chocolate and he secretly hoped that they had all gorged themselves to the point that they might refuse leaving more of the decadent truffle-and-mousse concoction for himself.

"Does dessert involve more booze?" Neil asked and turned his bone-dry wine glass upside down, "Because I'm running on vapor over here."

"I think we're out of wine." Mamoru shrugged, "But there's plenty of—"

Neil was out of his chair and making a beeline to the kitchen island which held the ingredients for the evening's cocktail hour. He poured a sizeable measure of gin into his wine glass and returned to the table with a contented grin plastered on his plastered face.

"Alrighty then." Mamoru inferred and rose from his chair, "I guess dessert it is."

"I'll help you." Kaden stood to join him.

"Thanks you." Mamoru bowed slightly and turned, then looked over one shoulder, "Kay-chan."

"HAH!" Jiro's belt of laughter shook the table, "He's in on it!"

Mamoru snickered to himself as Kaden, shoulders only slightly slumped, followed his Master into the kitchen to begin dessert preparations as Usagi beamed from the opposite end of the table. When she was sure the two older men were out of earshot she reached out and grasped both Neil and Zora's hands who were sitting closest to her.

"I'm so glad you're back in our lives." Usagi poured out her heart to the men as Jiro also leaned into the whispered conversation, "Mamo-chan may not be as open as I am with his feelings, but I've never seen him so _happy_."

"We've wanted to be with him – both of you for a long time, Princess." Zora told her and received a subtle, but sharp glare for his trouble, "Usagi, I mean."

"Usagi-_chan_." The young woman stressed.

"Of course. Usagi-chan." Zora agreed.

"I hope we're not causing too much of a disturbance in your routine." Jiro nearly apologized.

"Oh no!" Usagi was taken aback, "No, never! I want you guys here all the time! Mamo-chan would never admit it, but I know he gets lonely with just me and the other Sailor Guardians for company."

"Yes, it must be _so terrible_ for him." Neil smirked and Zora shot him a warning glare.

"Now don't get ecchi on me!" Usagi frowned, "I'm sure Mako-chan wouldn't appreciate—" The tolling of her cell phone's ring cut off any further admonishment, "Ooh! Somebody loves me!"

Usagi fished the phone out of her purse hanging nearby and greeted, "Moshi moshi!"

"What's a Mako-chan?" Jiro asked under his breath.

"An invitation for a beating." Neil answered and put a finger to his lips, motioning towards Usagi.

"Motoki-kun!" Usagi greeted happily which contrasted sharply with the crestfallen expression that followed, "Oh no, are you sure?"

"Usako?" Mamoru approached, hearing the worry in his princess' voice.

"I understand." Usagi spoke in a resigned voice, "Tell Reika-chan I hope she gets better soon, and we'll have a make-up dinner as soon as she's feeling better!" after a pause she sighed and said, "Okay, I'll tell them. Goodnight."

"What's wrong?" Mamoru asked concerned.

"Motoki says Reika was sorry they missed dinner, but apparently she's gotten very sick." Usagi informed him, "He's going to stay with her at her apartment tonight."

"Well that's good." Mamoru sighed, "But all the same, it's too bad they couldn't come."

"I hope it's not serious." Usagi worried and then suddenly let out a prolonged, arm-stretching, cat-like yawn, "Oh wow where did _that_ come from?"

"It's almost midnight, Usako." Mamoru bent down and kissed her on the top of the head while depositing a hefty slice of German chocolate cake before her awestruck eyes.

"I'm not going to bed before I eat this." She replied in a distracted, robotic monotone as her entire body shuddered with the anticipation of sugary bliss.

"Bed?" Neil balked, "How can you be talking about bed? The night is _young_!"

"Young for you, maybe." Usagi smirked, "But every good princess needs her beauty sleep."

"Hear, hear." Zora agreed.

"I guess it takes a princess to know a princess." Neil snarked as the promised cake was set before him.

"Not all of us live on caffeine and alcohol, Neil." Zora responded.

"It's how all men should live." Neil argued and clapped a forceful hand on Mamoru's shoulder, "Then all men would be equally badass."

"I believe I'm _badass_ enough for Usako's tastes." Mamoru blushed, as did Usagi.

"Just as I thought." Neil acted despondent, "You wouldn't know a good time if it bit you in the crotch."

"My god, Neil." Kaden grumbled, "What part of polite and civil don't you understand?"

"The part where Endymion used to say screw curfew and spend all night with us drinking, rolling dice, playing cards and being, in general, a heroic badass." Neil answered, "Are you really going to make me spell it out for you?"

"Apparently you have to." Kaden answered, "Since I have no idea what you're getting at."

"If Motoki is staying with his girl tonight then we've got our whole building to ourselves!" Neil exclaimed, "Crown is empty and we've got enough booze to float Ireland.

Jiro announced, "And I know where Motoki stashes the quarters!"

"Isn't that a bit dishonest?" Mamoru warily asked.

"We would just be borrowing them." The blonde meekly mentioned, "We'd give them back!"

"What do we need quarters for?" Zora inquired.

"Video games of course!" Jiro stated the obvious, "It's an arcade!"

"Dude, fuck that." Neil rejected the notion, "We'll dig up the UNO deck."

"Ooh, now _that's_ an idea." Zora clapped his hands together and his voice became positively sadistic.

"No way! UNO brings out the absolute worst in all of us." Jiro refused, "Come on, are you telling me you don't want to get shitface drunk and play _Street Fighter _until dawn?"

"Or the Sailor V game?" Usagi winked not so innocently in Kaden's direction.

"See? Usagi gets it!" Jiro pointed out and threw a companionable arm around the woman's slim shoulders.

"Oh, no. I think I'd fall asleep on the way!" Usagi replied and immediately seized the opportunity, "But you guys should definitely go!"

"I think another time, maybe." Mamoru attempted to object.

"Come on, Master!" the excitable Jiro let slip the M-word, "Dinner was great, but now it's time for the party!"

"Seriously, but an _adult_ party sans video games." Neil agreed to a point, "You got something better to do?"

"I have to clean up." Mamoru answered honestly, "And sleep."

"Hear that, boys?" Neil slapped a hand down on the table which caused every piece of silverware to jump. As he stood up he declared, "Mamoru said he's coming with us! Let's take this show on the road!"

"What?" Mamoru looked confused as Jiro and Zora both rose to join their burly companion.

"Gentlemen..." Kaden attempted to assuage the sudden spark of rebellion.

"Kay-chan, Mamo-chan, I insist!" Usagi interjected and took on a regal tone of voice, "As your future Queen I _command_ you all to go back to your apartment and have fun!"

Unable to deny such an order Mamoru folded, "Okay, Usako."

"I—Um…" Kaden once again tried to act as a parental voice of reason, but soon conceded, "As you wish."

"Done deal." Neil gloated and swept his lion's mane of woodsy hair back with both hands, "Let's roll."

"Wait, we didn't even finish dessert!" Mamoru protested. The decadent mass of thick, spongy chocolate goodness called out to him from its place on the forgotten dinner table.

"Don't worry, I'll put everything back in the refrigerator." Usagi reassured him with a mischievous grin.

"Leave some for me, please!" Mamoru pleaded as Jiro tugged his arm towards the apartment's front door.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening." Kaden turned and bowed slightly to his hostess.

"It was a pleasure having you all." Usagi answered sweetly.

"I promise to return him…" Kaden peered over one shoulder to see Mamoru hastily retrieving his winter coat amidst a flurry of fist-bumping and back-slapping from the three other men, "… Undamaged."

"You don't have to worry so much, Kaden." Usagi assured him, mercifully foregoing his new diminutive nickname, "Mamoru is much tougher than he looks. And I want you to have fun too."

"I'm afraid as one of the, um…" he halted and realized that he had still not settled upon a collective title for himself and his comrades yet, "As the leader of Mamoru's guardians, I can't indulge."

"Really?" Usagi's eyes sparkled with delight and her grin reached her ears, "The leader of my guardians, Minako, could change your mind about that."

Kaden, self-professed as never awkward, awkwardly cleared his throat and fumbled with the back of his chair as he pushed it forward in a gesture meant to convey the imminent rapidity of his departure. Usagi squealed gleefully at his reaction and set about prancing, literally, around the kitchen table collecting plates as she enjoyed her private revelry. Kaden's mind wandered and he pictured a bright red bow. It was the only thing he could think of to match the color of his face.

* * *

"Good evening, Luna." The tall, sharply dressed woman greeted before the cat even entered her line of sight.

"I can't tell if you do that because you really can see the future." Luna greeted as she rounded the concrete slab to stand before the woman on the sidewalk corner, "Or if it's because I'm not as quiet and stealthy as I used to be."

"Some mysteries must remain." Setsuna Meioh answered playfully, "Or else what fun is life?"

"There is a dinner tonight." Luna immediately began, "One that we were not invited to."

"Yes, I've heard." Setsuna agreed and gestured for Luna to join her on the bench at the edge of the park where they sometimes met to trade vital Senshi statistics.

"Did Haruka and Michiru tell you anything?"

"Only that Mamoru may be even more lacking in culinary skill than Minako." Setsuna replied and touched a rose-tipped finger to her temple, "That Toast still haunts me…"

"I don't like that everyone seems so nonchalant about this development." Luna's fur stiffened slightly, "The Four Kings were our enemies. Usagi trusts them, but her openness and compassion have gotten her in trouble before."

"They have also saved countless lives many times over." she reminded the feline.

"I know." Luna conceded, "And I know I shouldn't worry over every little thing like this, but…"

"Someone has to." Setsuna finished. The Guardian of Time could easily empathize with Luna's often thankless task of her own guardianship over Usagi.

Luna smiled. There were few who could count the enigmatic Setsuna as a friend and even fewer who could claim to truly know her, but Luna took pride in the knowledge that she was one of these few. To the outside world she exuded mystery and intrigue; the Guardian of Time was a terrifying specter lurking at the edge of reality, a celestial hermit with a fierce temperament should any invade her realm. Luna knew her as a quiet, contemplative young woman with a deep love of creativity and fashion. She drank tea, refused to eat eggplant, and seemed every bit as normal as Usagi was the day Luna instructed her in her first henshin.

However, Setsuna was not a normal woman. Her dark skin, towering stature and waterfall of jade tresses would be considered exotic anywhere on Earth. However, it was her ethereal inflections and the deep, soulful, melancholy reservoir of her eyes which always gave Luna pause to consider that perhaps she was indeed the daughter of the mythical titan Chronos. Though she had sacrificed her immortality at the Time Door through the use of her forbidden powers (too severe a punishment Luna deemed, especially considering she halted time to save a _child_) she did retain the many eons of memories, observations and wisdom that her position afforded her. From her lofty realm Sailor Pluto had watched the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, then the many kingdoms of man, and finally the last kingdom: Crystal Tokyo, the Silver Millennium reborn in the far-distant future of the 30th century. It was staggering to consider that at one point in time Sailor Pluto existed at _every_ point in time, but was now an ordinary tech school student taking a relaxing evening stroll. And conversing with a magical talking cat, of course.

"Don't you find it concerning that the Shitennou would be reborn?" Luna pressed.

"No more concerning than the many times that the Sailor Guardians have fallen." Setsuna answered, "Only to rise again in new life."

"Yes, but our Senshi are unique, aren't they?" Luna puzzled, "It's the power of Usagi and the Ginzuishou that sealed away Chaos and allowed everyone to come back."

"Luna, I am no expert on Star Seeds, Sailor Crystals, or the Galaxy Cauldron." Setsuna admitted, "But Usagi's compassion and desire for everyone to achieve happiness is certainly not limited to our small group, or even this island nation alone."

"No, of course it isn't." Luna confirmed without hesitation.

"I see no reason why any life which was interrupted or destroyed by Chaos would not be given the same chance to return and continue, just as Usagi wished for all of us."

"I used to have all of the answers." Luna shrugged dejectedly, "Setsuna…"

"Yes?"

Luna hesitated, "I know you don't appreciate hearing this question."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't ask it." The mysterious Guardian replied candidly, "We were having such a nice talk."

"Can you tell me? Anything?" Luna ignored the sage wisdom, "Anything at all about those four men?"

"You know the Taboo forbids me from revealing future events." Setsuna gave her same well-worn denial as every time she had been approached for the same request.

"I don't understand why we can't know more about the future." Luna tried to argue, "We've already been to Crystal Tokyo and—"

"Crystal Tokyo is the outcome of an incalculable number of events." The Guardian revealed, "What you saw in the 30th century was an _effect_, not a _cause_. To know the cause, to know the _how_ of Crystal Tokyo's creation would be to create uncertainty. Uncertainty breeds paradox."

"Fine, then don't tell me the cause." Luna begged, "Tell me the outcome. Tell me what the Shitennou returning means. What will they do? What _effect_ will they have?"

"I cannot reveal _anything_ and you know this." Setsuna was resolute, "Even the smallest scrap of information out of place could spell doom for the timeline."

"Timeline…" Luna gave an agitated groan, "Then what good is knowing the future if we can't stop something terrible before it happens?"

"There is a difference between pessimism and knowing the future, Luna." Setsuna quipped, "There is nothing to say that something terrible will happen."

"I hate this uncertainty." Luna remarked and then gave voice to the irony, "I guess this is how you feel all the time?"

"Nothing wonderful will ever come from knowing what you _will_ do." Setsuna advised, "It robs us of the mystery and possibility of all the things we _could_ do in the future."

"You're right." Luna admitted, "But I sometimes think of Crystal Tokyo and wonder how hard the road to that future may be? How much pain could we spare ourselves along the way if we knew what was to come?"

Setsuna only offered a sad, resigned smile in reply. Luna got up, stretched, stood at the edge of the bench and looked ready to hop off and return home, but she froze silent and still.

"Luna?"

"Crystal Tokyo." The magical feline purred and her brow twitched in furious recall of a fleeting memory, "I don't think…" Luna turned and caught Setsuna's quizzical gaze, "They weren't there. The Four Kings _weren't there_ in Crystal Tokyo."

"Well." Setsuna gave her noncommittal reply, "Perhaps you knew the answer to your question all along."

* * *

"You never even saw the inside of our place, did you?" Jiro asked as the five men exited the cramped taxi into the cold late night January air in front of the Crown Fruit Parlor and Arcade.

"No, we just drank on the roof all night and then I stumbled home." Mamoru answered.

"Actually I called a cab and drove back to your apartment with you." Kaden corrected, "Don't you remember?"

"We drank a _lot_ that night." Mamoru stressed.

"What's this _we_ nonsense?" Neil questioned, "It was a normal night for me."

"I can't wait to see what your liver looks like when the inevitable transplant happens." Zora quipped, "I'm assuming it'll look something like a deflated, rotten pineapple."

"Hardest working liver in the Far East." Neil announced and pounded his abdomen proudly.

"You know it's not healthy to drink in excess." Mamoru lectured, "I don't want to preach, but—"

"Zip it, Endy." Neil slipped back into using Mamoru's ancient diminutive, "Not when you're with us."

"So are we just dispensing with all manner of decorum, then?" Kaden lambasted his younger associate.

"At least until I get my hands on a bottle." Neil sassed, "Somebody want to step up? It's fucking freezing out here."

"Who has the keys?" Jiro shivered nearby.

"Unbelievable." Zora grumbled as he stepped up to the door, keys jangling in his hand, "Where would you people be without me?"

"A bigger apartment." Neil joked and Mamoru stifled a chuckle.

The chill hit him instantly and his mouth sagged open in shock. Mamoru had learned long ago that the powers afforded him by his sacred Golden Crystal reached beyond the physical psychometry he sometimes employed. He occasionally experienced moments of perfect mental clarity, almost to the level of precognition, but only in the most elemental sense. It happened whenever Usagi was in danger; no matter where Mamoru may have been at the time he always knew when Sailor Moon appeared. The same feeling overwhelmed him now and every joint in his body suddenly seized as the cold wash of dread poured over him. Zora unlocked the front door, swung it outward, and then fumbled blindly with one hand on the interior of the doorway searching for a light switch. His fingers found their intended target and he flipped the innocuous plastic lever on. Mamoru could feel the snap of the circuit and see the white-blue flash of an electrical arc somewhere deep within the blackness of the building. He reacted the only way he could.

Mamoru reached out with one hand and grabbed Zora's curly ponytail. Ignoring all screams and shrieks of protest he pulled backward with all his might. Zora's feet left the ground and all hundred-and-thirty-odd pounds of him sailed through the air as Mamoru turned and redirected his momentum towards the three stunned men standing nearby. Zora only left his grasp thanks to a full third of the coppery strands of hair in Mamoru's fist tearing out by their bloody roots. The flying man collided with the others and despite his relatively slight build, toppled them all off the sidewalk and into the street. Horns blared as Kaden's head struck the asphalt precariously close to the tire of a passing motorcycle.

Then everyone went blind.

Intense light of white, orange and yellow exploded outward from the Crown Fruit Parlor as the four prone men were assaulted with a shattering concussive wave, ear-splitting thunder, and incendiary heat. Kaden tried to scream Mamoru's name, but found no air in his lungs. He felt face singe with flame, felt his exposed skin lacerated by shards of glass, and felt the impact of myriad chunks of steel, brick, and wood. His hands search frantically the shuddering ground around him. Anxious fingers grasped his own; he couldn't tell whose but it felt like Jiro. Kaden's eyes fluttered with pain as he attempted to squint and assess what just happened.

Vision returned milky at first. He could barely perceive the rain of dust, ash, and tattered cloth floating down from above him. He sought out the other men who had been splayed on the ground with him following Zora's sudden flight. Jiro, Zora and Neil lay nearby in various states of confusion and recovery. Against his natural inclination to pessimism, Kaden was immediately relieved to see his comrades blanched, bloody, but more or less unscathed. Approaching sirens began to seep through the persistent dull tone the explosion had left in his ears. He turned his vision upward and finally saw the full extent of the disaster. Smoke poured out of shattered windows and the yawning chasm that used to be a doorway. The Crown Fruit Parlor and Arcade, in a split second, had been reduced to a flame-scarred skeleton of a building. Metal groaned from within the fiery chaos threatening a collapse. Kaden forced his upper body up off the asphalt and felt a soft but solid shape slump into him.

Reacting instantly Kaden reached out both arms and caught Mamoru as he fell. He nearly lost his grip as a memory assaulted him of Prince Endymion, his armor sundered and his back slashed open and bloody, tumbling into the shocked, terrified grasp of Princess Serenity. Mamoru's arms were locked, crossed over his face with nails digging painfully deep into his palms. His clothes were shredded and his skin was charred from where he was assaulted by the full impact of the conflagration. Kaden understood in an instant that Mamoru had not only anticipated the explosion, but actively shielded the four men behind him from its total fury.

"Master!" Zora gasped as tears streaked clean lines down his gritty cheeks.

The other three struggled to their knees and formed a protective ring around their fallen liege. Emergency vehicles roared in as paramedics and fire fighters began flooding in. Kaden could hear a man asking after his condition, but the words were a muted jumble. He reluctantly released his grasp on Mamoru's burned body as the first responders pulled him away toward an ambulance. He slumped back against the sidewalk curb and distantly felt a gloved hand pushing back his stained silver hair to examine a slash on his forehead. As Mamoru disappeared fully into the ambulance Kaden lurched forward and the evening's dinner returned into his lap and onto the street.

_I promise to return him… undamaged._

* * *

Far across town in the apartments complex adjacent to the Azabu Technical School a pair of scarlet eyes watched the flame and smoke billow up from the explosion. Motoki's face was twisted into a grotesque, rictus grin and a hissing laugh escaped his grinding teeth. Black tendrils of smoky energy flowed down off his shoulders in hateful waves as if the dark tentacles were trying to claw their way out of his body. The seeping blackness seemed to darken the air of the studio apartment.

It would only be a matter of time until he discovered how many of his foes were consumed by the explosion, but even if not all of the Four Kings and their Prince had perished, any number would please him. Especially of _He_ was one of them, or better yet, if _He_ was the only one left alive to live with the grief... A stifled groan from behind called his attention and the darkness instantly receded and Motoki's face re-contorted back to its placid, polite countenance. Reika stirred on the couch and clutched her temples with both hands as she rose.

"Motoki-kun?" she muttered weakly and struggled to lift herself into a sitting position, "Where are we?"

"Back at your apartment." Motoki played the part of comforting shoulder, "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible." she admitted, "What happened?"

"You passed out while you were hailing us a cab." he lied, "I couldn't wake you up, so I brought you back home."

"We missed dinner?" Reika asked sorrowfully.

"Unfortunately." Motoki said and stroked the back of his fingers against her lovely face.

"What's that?" she gasped as she too caught sight of the smoke rising high in the Tokyo night.

"Something's on fire." he told her flatly.

"What? Where?" Reika struggled and peered as hard as she could out the tall windows, "That looks like-"

"It's nothing, Reika." Motoki tried to assure her.

"That looks like it's in Juuban!" Reika gasped, "Oh my gosh, what if it's-"

Motoki reached out quickly and Reika jumped, fearing that the approaching hand was about to strike her. Instead the fingers folded back until only the soft tip of Motoki's index finger came to rest on the crest of her forehead. A fluttering of lashes and the rolling back of eyes signaled Reika's loss of consciousness and she slumped motionless forward. Motoki shoved her limp body away and she crumpled back down onto the couch.

"We'll talk later, dear." Motoki spat and stood up again.

He resumed his previous position at the tall pane of glass facing the smoldering remains of Crown. His green eyes turned bloody once more and the oppressive waves of black energy began to seep again.

"I'll see you soon." He hissed as fangs filled his mouth, "Father."


	7. Chapter Six

_DVD COMMENTARY: Once again everyone, I apologize most sincerely for the delay in getting this chapter posted. Like I mentioned last time, I recently moved and that process took a lot more time than I expected. I also spent most of February working in New York City (in the warehouse-y, non-glamorous parts, don't be envious) which after traffic ended up being all 10-14 hour days, so I didn't have much time to myself let alone to write! But things have calmed down now so hopefully this will be the last major delay for a while. Can you dig it?_

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

_How did this happen?_

_How did this happen?_

_How did this happen?_

The question beat in time with the dull thumping ache that pulsed across Kaden's skull as he sat in the stiff chair of the hospital waiting room anxiously anticipating news of Mamoru's condition. He and the other Shitennou were treated and released by the hospital clinic in a matter of minutes; their cumulative sustained injuries amounted to no worse than a bruised rib sustained by Jiro when Zora landed on top of him. That, and the fatigued hand that Kaden continually flexed in and out of a fist after filling out a seemingly endless stream of medical paperwork. He tried to force the myriad distracting sounds of the hospital from his mind and center his thoughts, but the pounding repeated question robbed him of any semblance of calm.

To his left Jiro sat taking short, shallow breaths so as not to aggravate his injury. His eyes were closed and his arms folded across his chest and to any passing observer he might have looked to be asleep. Kaden was rarely jealous of anyone or anything, but in this instant he greatly coveted Jiro's ability to find peace and harmony in even the tensest situations. Still, beneath the placid veneer Kaden knew the same emotional turmoil was wracking his youngest friend as well.

Less calm was Zora sitting next to Jiro. The young man was a mass of anxiety and nerves. He fidgeted in his chair, shifted his weight back and forth but never finding an agreeable position. His eyes darted back and forth and his head snapped in the direction of every beep, whistle, and mechanical noise that made its way into the waiting room. He coughed and sighed to remind the hospital staff of his presence and occasionally stifled a whimper from the tears that constantly threatened to spill from his reddened emerald eyes. He had chewed the flesh on the back of his left thumb raw while they waited; a nervous habit Kaden had never witnessed before.

To Kaden's right, Neil could outwardly be described as calm, but that was only due to a staggering amount of chemical assistance. His dark pants were torn on both knees, his shirt was halfway untucked and his hair was a wild tangle such to the point that he could easily be mistaken for a stereotypical vagrant. The picture was completed by the stainless steel flask that hung precariously from his slackened grip. Neil's head lolled up and down as he fought against his tired body's whiskey-soaked desire to drift off and fall asleep. After a particularly violent pang his head snapped back, thumped against the wall, and the flask fell clanging loudly against the linoleum floor and drawing the ire of every nurse and orderly behind the nearby station.

"Sonnuvabitch …" Neil drawled drunkenly and retrieved the fallen vessel with a clumsy grab.

He titled the flask upside down and frowned when a lone brown drop eked its way out to splatter on his leg. He screwed down the cap and replaced the container in his back left pocket. He shifted in the opposite direction causing the chair to creak and groan awkwardly under his weight. He pulled an identical albeit smaller flask from his right back pocket and set about unscrewing the cap on that one.

"Neil, that's enough." Kaden ordered in a repulsed tone.

"Fuck you. That one was for Endy." Neil answered in a slurred monotone, "This one's for Speenan."

"For _what_?" Kaden demanded.

Neil turned to him, a defeated, sullen look on his red face and he grimaced, "My fish."

"Oh." Kaden answered and his prickly demeanor softened ever so slightly. He had barely had enough time to process the possible loss of his Prince after the explosion let alone give any thought to the loss of their home and property.

Kaden had occasionally watched Neil go about the routines of his hobby with zen-like fascination. He was painstaking in the placement and care of his coral; he was precise in the monitoring of pH levels and was never more than an hour late in the scheduled replacement of filters and light bulbs. The meticulousness his aquarium demanded stood in stark contrast to the Neil on display the rest of the time as well as the Nephrite of Kaden's memory. He was an emotional, impulsive man whose natural reaction to most events was to punch something and deal with the consequences later. He was a doer, not a planner and the amount of planning and attention his hobby required posed an interesting paradox.

Still, Kaden understood that everyone dealt with stress and relaxed and decompressed in their own ways. Neil had his aquarium (and his whiskey collection, but Kaden greatly preferred the former), Jiro had his video games, Zora had his vanity, and he, well… Kaden didn't really have hobbies or interests of his own. His every thought and impulse since that day he woke up naked in a desert had been centered on finding Endymion again. The memory of that joyful union, even last night's dinner, seemed so distant now that he was once again separated from his Prince. His Prince who was lying in a hospital bed breathing through a tube and fighting for a life that should have never been allowed to be put in danger in the first place. The Shitennou. The Four Heavenly Kings. Knights of the Golden Kingdom. What good were such titles if they were powerless to protect the _one thing_ in the universe they existed to protect? Kaden shook the imminent self-loathing away so hard that his chair slid an inch to the right with a most unpleasant ear-gouging scrape.

"It feels like we've been here forever." Jiro commented after the ruckus roused him from his private meditation. He stretched out in the uncomfortable wood-framed blue fabric chair; the type found in every hospital in the world and yawned.

"We shouldn't be here at all." Zora grumbled and gestured toward the hallway that led to the intensive care unit, "We should be in _there_ and Mamoru should be out here waiting for news if we were alive or dead."

"Zora…" Kaden said warningly.

"What? I know you agree with me." The younger man defended.

"Now isn't the time for—" Kaden began his reprimand, but was interrupted by the opening of the ICU doors.

A bespectacled physician emerged; slim, dark haired tied up into a bun and carrying a patient file. She was nodding her head in a positive manner towards the pages of the file as she flipped them back and forth, but her face betrayed no emotion. She stopped briefly at the nurse's station and was directed towards the four men sitting nearby watching her every move.

"I'm looking for Kaden Al-Waradi?" she asked as she approached.

"I'm Kaden." He introduced himself as he stood to greet the doctor urgency in his voice would not be misconstrued as rudeness, "How is he?"

"I'm Dr. Saeke Mizuno." She introduced herself and immediately countered, "More to the point, how are _you_?"

"Fine." Kaden hurried his reply, "We're all fine."

"Really?" she prodded further.

"Yes." Kaden firmly replied immediately feeling regret for his less than professional tone, "We're just… very worried about our friend."

"Mamoru Chiba?" she asked almost accusatorily.

"Of course."

"I've treated him before." Dr. Mizuno revealed, "Several years ago. He was hospitalized with extreme lethargy from a sickness we couldn't identify."

"I remember." Kaden told her.

He recalled the bout of sickness that overtook Mamoru when Queen Nehellenia cast her dark curse over the world. As the life and energy was drained out of the Earth through her hateful spider webs, so too was Mamoru's stolen away. The incident had almost cost his Master his life and he remembered the maddening feeling of helplessness and the lack of power that the Shitennou all felt as they were forced to watch their Master wither away from within their stone prisons. Like before, Kaden shook the thought away violently and his head involuntarily twitched.

"Sir?" Dr. Mizuno questioned him, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." He answered, politely this time, "Please excuse my abruptness."

"Very well…" the physician looked wary as if there were more questions she wanted to ask, but eventually relented, "Where should we begin?"

"What do you mean?" Zora wondered.

"Well for starters he should be dead." Dr. Mizuno put it bluntly, "He was standing mere yards from the flash point of an explosion that took down a building. The concussive force alone should have caused total organ failure."

"So he's alive…" Jiro sighed and allowed himself a small smile.

"He suffered severe head trauma as a result of the explosion." She answered and flipped through her charts, "Let me see… the burns all appear superficial so I don't expect any scarring. He has two broken ribs and a broken clavicle, but beyond that you'd never know there was anything wrong with him apart from the coma."

"Yeah but... but I bet he'll have some sick-ass scars." Neil droned incoherently, "Endy had great scars, y'member?" He loosed a thunderous belch.

Jiro sighed and looked up at the ceiling as if to ask _"Why?"_ to some higher power. Zora rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave the doctor an apologetic shrug to indicate he had no idea what his companion was talking about.

"I apologize for my emotionally compromised companion." Kaden spoke and roughly jostled Neil to stand behind him before the doctor, looking utterly appalled, could chastise the outburst.

"I am hopeful, but I need to be clear: we have no way of knowing how long this coma may last." The doctor admirably ignored the drunkenness and off-color humor, "It may end tomorrow, it may be next month, it may be next _year_. The brain is not so easy to mend as a broken bone."

"Can we see him?" Kaden asked.

"Yes, but gentlemen…" Dr. Mizuno looked him over and then the other men in turn saving a withering gaze for Neil. "I don't presume to understand your relationship with Mamoru, but it's my experience that incidents like this do not happen by random chance."

"What do you mean?" Zora was immediately defensive, "You think he blew _himself_ up?!"

"Zora!" Kaden reprimanded him immediately.

"What I mean is that the Juuban district has played host to many strange medical cases in the years that I've worked at this hospital." Dr. Mizuno corrected, "Whole neighborhoods falling ill at once, people reporting instances of lost time, hallucinations of monsters." The doctor turned directly to Zora, "Reports of hypnotic possession."

"Excuse me?" Zora took a nervous step back.

"I'm sorry, you remind me of someone I saw on the news years ago." Dr. Mizuno related as she eyed Zora up and down, "They were reporting on the thief called Tuxedo Mask who was breaking into jewelry stores searching for a Legendary Silver Crystal. An expert in precious stones revealed that it was a priceless artifact that could grant great power and immortality. I never saw the crystal expert on the news before, or since, but I remember her name was Doctor Isono."

Zora stayed silent, his throat dry. He swallowed hard.

"I remember watching her and listening to her words intently." She continued, "But what I _don't _remember is how I ended up two districts away on the other side of town, or what I was doing there, or what I did in the four hours between that are missing in my memory."

"I'm not sure what that has to do with Mamoru's current condition." Kaden interjected almost threateningly.

"All I'm saying is to be careful of the friends you keep." Dr. Mizuno advised, "Strange things have happened around that man in the past; I wouldn't want to see the rest of you end up the same."

With that she gestured beyond the nurse's station toward the doors to the ICU and the four men fell in step behind her as she led the way. Neil simply fell. Mamoru's room was the last at the end of the hallway before it intersected another. Dr. Mizuno held the door open as the men shuffled in and she reserved a long, questioning glance for Zora as he passed uneasily by her.

Mamoru lay on the bed with a pale blue sheet pulled up almost to his chin which hid the majority of the gauze and bandages cocooning his battered body. His face was singed by fire, but as Dr. Mizuno observed the majority of the burns seemed superficial. He seemed to be breathing on his own as there were no plastic tentacles erupting from his throat, but the sheer number of electrical leads and plastic tubes impaling his flesh was no less distressing.

"Oh my god." Zora gasped upon seeing the man in the bed. The same oily raven hair, unkempt and singed from the explosion, the same jaw, the same cheekbones, the same regal bearing even as he lay motionless and plugged full of tubes and wires, "It really is him."

Zora had to turn away from the scene in order to maintain what little composure he still possessed. Tears stung his eyes as he recalled a much calmer, much more clear-headed, much braver version of himself who was the Prince's left hand where Kunzite had been his right. That man would not have shirked from the bedside of the wounded, but there was less and less of that Zoisite's depth of courage to call upon these days.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Dr. Mizuno questioned the odd observation.

"I was expecting it to not be real." Zora explained and after a pause added, "Or for it to be one of us instead."

"You all seem very close with Mamoru." Observed the doctor, "But I don't remember you coming to the hospital the last time he was here."

"We weren't here at the time." Kaden answered swiftly.

"But earlier you said you remembered when he fell ill?" Dr. Mizuno countered.

"What I mean is we weren't here in Tokyo." Kaden covered.

This doctor was far more perceptive than he had originally given her credit for. Anxiety danced at his fingertips as the next white lie might prove to be his last. He fought against the natural urge to fold his hands together or cross his arms lest body language give away his attempts at subterfuge. He found something about Dr. Mizuno familiar, but he couldn't place the feeling or the strange running undercurrent of danger he'd felt since the beginning of their conversation.

"Dr. Mizuno?" a nurse asked from the hallway and handed the doctor another patient chart. She gave it a quick glance and handed it back.

"Gentlemen, I'm needed in another room." She told them, "Visiting hours are technically over. I trust you'll show yourselves out in a timely manner?"

"Of course." Kaden answered with a slight bow.

"Thank you, doctor." Jiro added.

Doctor Mizuno nodded and turned to leave the intensive care room, but not without casting a final sidelong glance at Zora as she made her way down the hall.

"Well…" Jiro muttered once he saw Dr. Mizuno was well out of earshot, "Can't say that's ever happened before."

"It was bound to sooner or later." Kaden claimed.

"God damn it, she recognized me." Zora shuddered where he stood and nervously began gnawing the back of his right thumb at the cuticle.

"No, she said you _looked_ like—" Jiro tried to calm his hyperactive companion.

"What if she's going to get the police?!"

"What would she tell them, Zora?" Kaden rationalized the situation, "That one time years ago you pretended to be a woman and hypnotized half of Tokyo to search for a magic crystal?"

"Guys, I don't know if we should be arguing _here_." Jiro gestured towards their injured prince.

After a moment of tense silence Zora's face fell from its state of panic into a snarl of angry sadness. He forcefully held back tears and the four men turned and took close solemn places at Mamoru's bedside.

"I told the Princess that I'd bring him home undamaged." Kaden spoke and his two coherent companions could tell his throat was dry and clenching at the memory.

"Usagi, not _the Princess_." Jiro remembered.

"It was a split second. A moment of hesitation." Kaden shook his head, disgusted, "I put him in that bed. I should have felt it coming. I should have shouldered the explosion for _him_, not _this_!"

"Don't be ridiculous—" Jiro started to argue.

"After all this time I almost got him killed because I wasn't fast enough." Kaden growled at them, but more so at himself, "A lifetime of regret and searching and _this_ is where it leads!"

"Would you rather we had _not_ found him?" Jiro countered, "Maybe the fact that we were with him tonight is the only reason he's still alive!"

"If we weren't with him tonight there would have been no reason for him to go to Crown and be caught in an explosion." Kaden declared.

"Whathefuckizzysaying?" Neil drawled incoherently from where he half-stood slumped against Mamoru's bed.

"There's no conjecture where our Master is concerned." Kaden spoke with the cold, impenetrable logic of their long-ago battlefield commander, "I should be laying there."

"Ugh, stop it. I don't think I can process much more of this." Zora shook the images from his mind, trying to grab on to Kaden for support who simply sidestepped away, in no mood to be pawed at with the man who was Endymion lying before him, "My God, he looks dead…"

"He'd make a good-looking corpse at least." Jiro snickered in an off-handed attempt to lighten the mood.

"Jiro!" Even Zora was taken aback at that utter failure of a joke.

Kaden turned towards Jiro, but couldn't manage the composure to speak. His fists were balled tightly at his sides and Jiro waited for the elder man to simply start swinging, but instead he turned and walked slowly out of the hospital room without a sound.

"I was just joking, dude! He'd think it was funny!" Jiro called after Kaden, pointing to Mamoru's unconscious form in front of him, "Lighten up."

"You should know better. You remember how he used to get when Endymion was involved," Zora prattled, "He'd go into Fearless Leader mode and try to pretend like he was in charge of the universe." Zora shook his head, "And that was a pretty fucking tasteless thing to say."

"Anything is going to be tasteless with our… with _Him_ lying half-dead in front of us, so what's it even matter?" Jiro shrugged and leaned down on the arm of a chair near Mamoru's bedside, "Holy shit."

"I know." Zora agreed with that last sentiment.

"How?" Jiro asked and looked first at Zora standing at the foot of Mamoru's bed biting the nail of his right thumb again, then to Neil woozily leaning nearby, "How didn't we see this coming?"

"What makes you think we could have? How long did we spend searching for him, years?" Zora asked, although in context it was a statement of fact, not a question, "We used to know Endymion's every move anywhere on Earth; now we couldn't even find him in one measly city. We had a _connection_ to him." Zora grimaced and looked away from the man in the hospital bed, "And we broke it."

They were silent save for Neil's labored breathing. They didn't often broach the subject because the memories were much too painful, but the four men who were once known as virtuous knights in service of their great Prince (albeit in another lifetime and an extinct civilization) were guilty of a communal sin which not even death could absolve from their memories. Their penance, they all silently agreed, was to live again, to find that Prince whom they failed so completely, and attempt in some way to undo the damage that was done so long ago.

"We should get him out of here." Zora schemed, "Take him back to our place."

"What the hell would that accomplish?" Jiro wondered.

"We can fix him." he motioned to Jiro and himself, flinging a tiny drop of blood onto Jiro's t-shirt from his gnawed-upon thumb, "All we'd have to do is figure out how to access just a little power and-"

"Enough." Kaden commanded, re-entering the room and swiftly placing himself between Mamoru's bed and his two blonde compatriots.

"Kaden, I wasn't seriously listening to him." Jiro professed his innocence against the fiery reprimand he was sure was coming.

"Even if you could find the power to teleport again, what makes you think I would ever let you transport Mamoru in such a condition?" Kaden asked.

"We still have some power, Kaden." Zora reminded him, "We could _help_ him."

"We could also _kill_ him!" Kaden shot back, his voice louder than he wanted, "I swore that I would never call on those abilities unless by my Master's command."

"Those abilities could _save_ your Master!" Zora continued.

"I have complete faith in modern medical science, Zora." Kaden stated finally and turned away, "The world doesn't need magic to heal a broken body."

Zora grabbed his arm forcefully, "Why are you so afraid of your power? Why are _we_ suffering for _your_ superstition?"

"Guys, please…" Jiro tried to intercede.

"For the same reason that you thought you were going to prison a minute ago!" Kaden roared, "Do you think I _like_ putting myself on a leash?!"

"I'm not saying we go out and shoot fireballs at each other in the streets." Zora told him, "But now, _privately_, to help our Master? I don't see the problem!"

"It's the 21st century, Zora. Nothing is private anymore." Kaden spoke somewhat cynically, "There will be no more discussion, understood Jiro?"

"Alright." Jiro said and waved both hands as if he were wiping away the infraction.

"Do _you_ understand?" Kaden wore the grimmest expression as he turned to Zora. The most vocal of their group only nodded half-heartedly, looking down and away.

"God… it- its him…" Neil sighed from behind them.

The other three turned to see Neil half slouched, half climbed on top of Mamoru's bed. There were tears in his eyes as he passed his hand across Mamoru's forehead and brushed his raven hair away from his forehead. With surprising speed and grace in his inebriated state, Neil flung himself up to straddle Mamoru before the other three could react.

"Wake up!" Neil howled, tears flowing down his face in alcoholic torrents. He grabbed Mamoru's hospital gown and roughly jostled the man, eliciting a chirp of surprise from Zora when Mamoru's eyes fluttered, "Wake up, Endy!"

"What the fuck?!" Kaden shouted and lunged at Neil.

"NO! Please!" Neil continued crying as the others tried to pry him off the injured man, "We didn't mean it!" Jiro shuddered when he realized Neil was replaying those last horrible moments of their previous life; remembering the end, "We shouldn't have let you go!"

"Get off him you dumb shit!" Kaden roared and landed a roundhouse haymaker straight to Neil's temple.

Inebriated as he was, the auburn-haired alcoholic never saw it coming. The next moment he was slumped moaning on the floor. The brief tussle pulled wires free from monitoring machines and overturned Mamoru's bed table. Alarms began blaring and the group heard nurses sprinting from their stations just outside.

"Christ…" Neil groaned and tried failingly to rise.

"Kaden, what the hell?!" Jiro stammered and knelt down to help the fallen man to his feet.

"He deserved it; he's drunk!" Zora defended and placed himself between the two men, "But you could have broken his jaw!"

Kaden seethed where he stood with scuffed knuckles clenched tightly at his side. Every scrap of doubt, anger, and restrained emotion he had kept tightly coiled under his calculated mask of indifference threatened to boil over into a long, run-on scream of guttural fury. Kaden had never in all of his lives lost his composure in such a way before. He shivered where he stood and immediately bent down to help Jiro hoist Neil to his feet. There was a good chance Neil wouldn't even remember it happened, but Kaden wasn't about to procrastinate in making amends for his behavior.

"Everyone out!" the head nurse bellowed as she entered the room, "NOW!"

The four exhausted occupants were ushered backward out the door as they watched nurses and orderlies plug Mamoru's lifelines back in and get him settled again. Dr. Mizuno watched the group from the end of the hall where she was still engaged with another patient. Zora made the mistake of looking over his shoulder to find the woman staring back and tracking his every move. The hospital staff informed them in no uncertain terms that they'd done enough damage for one day and the group shuffled (or were herded, more accurately) into the elevator.

They rode the elevator back to the ground level in uncomfortable silence. When they reached the lobby they exited and Neil, still groggy and lacking a center of gravity, bumped into a young girl in the doorway eliciting a chirp of surprise.

"Sorry." he grunted on reflex and kept on walking.

Kaden stopped dead in his tracks where he lagged behind the group and looked the girl over with stern, questioning steel intensity that rapidly faded into numb shock. She was petite; the top of her head barely reaching his sternum, though the red bow which held back waves of spun gold added another inch or two. Huge cornflower blue eyes scanned those of gunmetal gray and communicated a wordless greeting tinged with dread. Fear was common in hospitals where loved ones sometimes met their end, but this was a fear mingled with familiarity. She was afraid of _him_, of _this moment_.

The wind was knocked out of him at the sight of her, but he managed to utter, "Venus!"

"Kunzite…" she replied in trembling kind.

It had been their last, brief exchange in the caverns of the Dark Kingdom before Queen Metalia ended his life. In the back of his mind he idly wondered if the same hateful dark energy were about to crash down upon him again. In the depths of his heart he almost hoped it would.

* * *

"You're absolutely sure?" Makoto asked, her tone of voice suggesting that she really didn't want the object of her query to be the case.

"Yes." Ami replied admirably dispassionate as they stood within the charred remains of the Crown Fruit Parlor &amp; Arcade, hidden behind one of the few walls which had not completely collapsed.

"Any chance your computer is giving a, um… uh…" Makoto snapped her fingers repeatedly while searching for the phrase, "… A false positive?"

"Unfortunately this situation is rather cut-and-dry, Mako-chan." Ami replied now sullen. She pulled her glasses off and placed them along with her slim Mercury computer back in the interior pocket of her blue winter coat.

"Shit." The taller woman cursed and glanced around the devastation in disbelief, "Could the gas have been left on by accident?"

"According to the decay patterns I detected the gas would have to have been turned on between 7PM and 9PM, well after closing." Ami related her findings, "It does appear to be intentional."

"What about the command center?" Makoto asked.

"It exists in a pocket dimension, so I doubt it was damaged by the explosion." Ami explained, "However, I couldn't detect the space-time aperture under the rubble, so I will need to consult with Luna and Artemis to find the command center's specific resonance before I can attempt to calculate new quantum entanglement formulas to gain access again."

"You lost me at pocket dimension." Makoto flatly admitted.

"It's there, but we can't get to it." Ami simplified.

"Shit…" Makoto repeated, defeated this time, "Why would Motoki do this?"

"We won't know until we find him." Ami answered.

"_How_ could he do this?" Makoto continued speculating, "This place was his life!"

"We shouldn't speculate until we have more conclusive data." Her smaller, though toweringly intelligent companion warned.

"What do you suppose they're going to build here once they tear the rest down?" Makoto's suddenly became rather sardonic, "Probably another fucking McDonalds."

Ami was taken aback by her friend's sudden and jarring shift in tone. Makoto had always been the type to wear her heart on her sleeve, but her temper was usually measured despite what the elemental fury of her guardian planet would suggest. She was selfless, comforting and kind and to hear her speak so coarsely and with such cynical melancholy sent a shiver down Ami's spine.

"This has you very upset, doesn't it Mako-chan?" Ami hazarded an obvious question.

"You're damn right it does!" Makoto snapped back, "We grew up here, Ami-chan! This is the first place where we all came together as Sailor Guardians _and_ as friends. How many hours did we spend playing that Sailor V game or just hanging out together in the fruit parlor?" Makoto turned side to side as if barely containing a thunderous outburst of anger and frustration, "I thought I was done feeling this way."

"What way?"

"Like I'm going to lose everything I love." She croaked, willing her eyes not to glaze with tears, "I know it's just a building, but… I lost my family. And _this_ is where I gained a new one."

"It is just a building, Mako-chan." Ami comforted her, "What's important are the memories we made here. You don't need Crown to be standing for you to hold those moments in your heart."

"Is it too much to ask to have both?" Makoto closed her eyes and balled her right fist, "I don't like _losing_ things."

"I understand." Ami consoled. She was more than capable of empathizing with her friend as her early lonely, fatherless life afforded her a similar experience, "But we need to focus and find Motoki."

"Motoki…" Makoto growled, "He was our friend, Ami. He knew who we were; _what_ we were. We saved his life more than once, I can't— I can't believe he would do this." She turned and in the blink of an eye her balled fist slammed into the charred support column nearby, "_I won't_!"

With a heavy grown and a spray of chalky dust the column buckled from the force of the punch and the small section of wall the two women were hiding behind gave way and collapsed exposing them to the open night air, the flashing lights, and the bright yellow reflective vests of the police and forensics team still investigating the ruins of the building.

"Hey!" a stern voice hollered from the perimeter.

"Oh, Mako-chan…" Ami grimaced at their new predicament.

"I barely even tapped it!" Makoto cried.

"Where the hell did you two come from?" the police officer demanded as he approached.

"I, um—" Makoto stammered.

"We, uh… We were just—"

"This is a crime scene!" the officer cut Ami off and she recognized from his badge and other insignias that he was a captain, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"They're with me." A new voice announced seemingly from out of nowhere.

The third woman approached swiftly across the scorched and melted expanse of the destroyed building. In the darkness of the night her torrent of raven hair seemed to stretch on forever. It contrasted sharply with the deep red and blanch white fabrics of the hakama she wore.

"Oh they are?" the captain turned to address her, "Did you all get lost and decide to take a stroll through my crime scene on the way to your temple?"

"I am the priestess of the Hikawa _Shrine_." She immediately corrected him and spoke commandingly, "We have been given special clearance by Minister Takashi Hino and are to have access to this crime scene for the purposes of conducting an exorcism."

"An exorcism, are you insane?!"

Rei instantly countered: "Spiritual energy dissipates at an accelerated rate in the presence of living creatures. You and your people could have malignant spirits binding themselves to you right now. The longer we delay the less chance there is that I can detect what really happened here.

"So you think ghouls and ghosts blew up this building?" the captain laughed harshly.

"No, I think a _man_ did." Rei corrected him, "But men can be driven to destructive ends if they are in the thrall of a dark power."

"Yeah, they're called personal demons. We all have them." The captain quickly added, "It's not an excuse to blow up a building

"Personal demons, Captain?" Rei bit down hard on the man's turn of phrase, "Would you like me to reveal to you the _names_ of your own demons?"

"This is absurd, I don't—"

"Captain…" One of the deputies rushed to his side with a muted cell phone in his hand and a wary glance for Rei, "It's the section chief."

At that the Captain finally relented, "You have two minutes." As he shuffled away to deal with the phone call he added, "If there's so much as a speck of dust out of place I'll have your ass."

"You'd be the first." Makoto quipped. Ami attempted to elbow her in the ribs but thanks to the height difference succeeded in striking her hip bone.

"That was close." Rei sighed once the Captain was safely out of earshot, "I'm getting rusty; that shouldn't have taken so long."

"I'm sure you haven't had to be that persuasive in a while." Ami pondered the relative peace of the last several years.

"Did you really bring in the big guns and call your father?" Makoto blanched at the thought of those two gargantuan egos engaging in combat.

"No, of course not." Rei confessed, "You think he'd help even if we were on speaking terms?"

"Then what about that phone call from the section chief?" Makoto asked pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

"Artemis." Rei admitted.

"So…" Makoto stalled.

"Yeah, we've got to make this quick." Rei agreed with the silent thought.

"The flash point of the explosion was over there." Ami motioned towards the melted section of counter top feebly clinging to a gas pipe.

Rei faced the object, folded her hands together as if in prayer and closed her eyes. Ami and Makoto, both well-insulated against the cold Tokyo winter in their heavy overcoats, stepped back as they began to feel the air around their companion begin to heat up. In a moment a light column of steam began to pour off Rei's shoulders as she called on her fiery inner power.

"Do you see anything?" Makoto asked hurriedly.

"Shh!" Ami shushed.

Rei's eyelids fluttered with psychic effort as she attempted to tap into the spiritual energy that permeated everything on Earth. She sometimes received visions through intense meditation and could readily detect the presence of spirits, evil or otherwise, but her powers were not like Mamoru's who could read memories and emotions through touch alone. Thinking of Mamoru and where he now lay broken in a hospital bed surrounded by four strange men that once tried to kill them, she focused all the more intently.

"Rei?" Makoto whispered when she noticed a growing commotion in the ranks of the police at the building's perimeter.

"I see him." Rei spoke softly as her eyes flew open, "Motoki."

"What is he doing?" Ami asked.

"Turning on the gas." Rei answered. Her voice was flat and monotone thanks to the trance, but her inner sorrow was reflected in the faces of her friends.

"God damn it." Makoto cursed.

"He's leaving now. By the front door. Reika is waiting for him." Rei continued recounting the events, "He turns off the light. She's hailing a cab. He locks the door."

"Rei, I think that's enough." Ami attempted to hurry her along as several police officers began approaching.

"He looks in the window." Rei ignored her, "He sees…"

"Rei!" Makoto grabbed her shoulder and suddenly her vision filled with the same scene unfolding in Rei's trance.

"He sees…" they spoke in unison.

"Hey! You three!" the police captain shouted jogging towards them, "Stop right there!"

"Those eyes!" Rei gasped as the trance broke and she collapsed forward from exhaustion, "I've _seen_ those eyes before!"

"Oh damn it all!" Makoto cursed as she helped Rei to her feet, "Ami, a little help?"

"Luna is going to have a conniption over this." Ami frowned and called on her elemental powers without bothering to transform, "Shabon Spray!"

Instantly the ruined building and the burnt space between the three women and the oncoming police filled with a thick, frigid mist. Ami bent down and took one of Rei's arms over her shoulders as Makoto did the same. They quickly shuffled out the back of what was left of the building while the police tripped and cursed behind them lost in the fog. When they reached the alley behind Crown Makoto and Ami made a single bounding leap from the street to the top of the adjacent building out of sight of the police who eventually came spilling out into the alley as well.

"I guess Artemis couldn't pull a convincing cop impression." Makoto chuckled.

"Rei-chan, are you okay?" Ami asked as Rei slowly rose on unsteady legs.

"Yeah, just a bit faint." She assured her, "Divination takes a lot out of me."

"What was that we saw at the end?" Makoto asked shaking at the memory.

"You said something about eyes?" Ami wondered.

"There's something wrong with Motoki." Rei concluded, "His eyes… they were red, menacing. I've seen those same eyes somewhere before, but I can't remember when!"

"So he's possessed by something?" Makoto sighed in relief.

"Something." Rei repeated, "Or someone."

"But who would want to possess Motoki just to have him blow up his own building?" Makoto scratched her head.

"Who do you think would want to possess Mamoru's best friend?" Rei cocked a knowing eyebrow at the question, "And then try to kill him in an explosion?"

"You don't mean the Shitennou do you?" Ami asked, "You think they're somehow involved?"

"They were standing right in front of the building when it exploded." Makoto reminded her.

"But only Mamoru sustained any injuries." Rei answered.

"Don't you think we should meet them first? Talk to them?" Ami questioned, "Before we start suspecting them of anything?"

"Minako is on her way to the hospital to meet them right now." Rei revealed.

"Alone?!" Ami gasped.

Rei smirked, ironic and sad, "We all already suspect them of _something_."

* * *

"Why does my face hurt?" Neil moaned and rubbed a black and blue splotch on the right side of his head.

Normally such a question would be met with a rousing round of sophomoric retorts, but Zora and Jiro were struck silent by the golden creature in their presence. She had yet to acknowledge any of them save for the marble man standing, and seeming to crumble ever so slowly, in front of her.

"Rough night?" Minako asked hearing Neil's question from behind.

"In more ways than one." Kaden answered and silently congratulated himself on regaining proper control over his voice.

As she stood before him Kaden couldn't help superimposing the memory of Princess Venus over her lovely face. Her features were sharper than they had been in the past, her cheekbones higher, her chin more angular, and she seemed overall more petite than the Princess of old, but her eyes somehow had only grown larger. He never thought it would be possible to see those eyes again, to stare into them and behold his own reflection in her sky-blue iris, but now only mere inches away Kaden had to force himself to center his thoughts lest he fall forever into memory.

"Kaden?" Zora quietly called.

Kaden blinked. He had no idea how long he had stood there silently staring at Minako. He answered, "It's alright."

"What is?" he was confused.

"Go home." Kaden ordered the group, obviously not keen to redirect his attention anywhere but on the blonde woman before him, "I'll meet up with you later."

"Kaden…" Jiro hazarded a comment, "We don't _have_ a home anymore."

"Go to the Hikawa Shrine." Minako turned to the three men, her somberness suddenly replaced by warm friendliness and generosity, "I'm sure Rei will be able to put you up for a few days. Can't have our Kings living on the streets now, can we?"

"_Our_ Kings?" Jiro cracked a small, awkward smile at that.

"Go." Kaden ordered again and the three men obediently shuffled away.

The silence that settled then put Kaden's teeth on edge. He fidgeted, _fidgeted_ for the love of all things good and holy, as he attempted to speak, initiate conversation, or do anything other than stand there like a lump holding down a section of tiled floor. She looked ready to speak so naturally Kaden chose the exact same moment to blurt out some words of his own.

"Venus, I—"

Immediately he was cut off with, "Minako."

"Right…" Kaden shook his head disgusted at his slip-up, "Of course, Minako."

"Or Mina for short." She added perkily.

"Minako." Kaden repeated so as to build muscle memory and replace any instance of the word Venus in his mental database with her new title, "How is your Prin—Usagi?"

"She's with him now." The Princess' guardian replied, "Along with Luna and Artemis."

"She is?" Kaden was confused, "But we were just inside; I didn't see her."

"Sailor Teleport." Minako winked, "Could you imagine leading a hysterical Usagi through the entire hospital?" She relaxed her posture slightly and smiled, "A quick dose of Ginzuishou energy should have Mamoru up and about in a day or two!"

"It's my fault that she's forced to see him like this at all." Kaden muttered.

"Yeah, probably." Minako off-handedly agreed.

"What?" He wasn't looking for sympathy, but he wasn't exactly looking for such casual condemnation either.

"Well it's obvious." Minako stated, "Everything was _always_ your fault, Kunz—" She snapped her teeth together at the slip and morphed into an embarrassed, awkward smile, "… Kaden."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you did that on purpose." Kaden offered an attempt at a smile, "This is not how I wanted this meeting to happen."

"But you _did_ want this meeting to happen?" Minako pried.

"You don't have to do that." Kaden told her seriously.

"Do what?" she innocently responded.

Tired and tattered from the night's events Kaden didn't want his next statement to come off sounding as coarse as it did, "Just say what you want to say!"

Minako was silent for a moment as the jarring demand shook free the façade of ease and good humor she had built up in preparation for this moment.

"Where were you?" she asked coldly, "Why didn't you come back?"

"Queen Metalia's curse trapped our spirits within our gemstones." Kaden explained, "As far as I understand it we weren't technically dead, so we couldn't be reborn."

"That's not what I mean." Minako corrected him, "I mean where we you since you were reborn over two years ago?" She clenched her teeth, "Why didn't you come _back_?"

"I…" Kaden started to answer, but shook his head instead, "It wasn't that simple."

"I thought you were dead." The radiant young woman confided, "I thought you were gone forever."

"Minako…"

"Why didn't you come back to me?" she cried.

"I couldn't." Kaden tried to assure her, "I had to find my Master. Surely you of all people understand—"

"Your Master?" Minako laughed suddenly, "The same Master who is in love with _my_ Princess? You didn't think you could _just ask_ me where to find him?"

"I didn't know where to find you, either!" Kaden defended himself, "I didn't even know your name!"

"Like that would have stopped the mighty Kunzite!" Minako assaulted him.

"Name calling, Minako?" Kaden frowned, not in any mood for such games.

"We once risked the peace of an entire solar system just to catch a _glimpse_ of one another across a crowded room." Minako reminded him as she stepped forward, "And now here you are, back from the dead, and it takes Mamoru getting blown up for you to even say hello to me?"

"I was…" Kaden readied his defenses again, but under her beaming blue gaze he relented, "I was afraid."

"Afraid?"

"The last time I saw you I tried to kill you." Kaden recalled, "And your friends. And your _Princess_." He forced himself to look away so as not to see the pain his words would bring to her face, "How could I even _look_ at you knowing everything that happened?"

"Kaden." A soft, small hand gently turned his head back and his vision filled with blue and gold once again, "You honestly think I would hold that against you?"

"Don't be so quick to—"

"Shut up." Now a soft, small finger came to rest over his lips, "If the man I loved didn't try to kill me at least _once_ I'd think there was something wrong."

Kaden reached up and grasped her hand with his; darker skinned and nearly twice as large. He brought her hand down to his side and ran his broad thumb over her knuckles caressingly.

"Do…" Kaden cleared his throat, "Do the men you love often try to kill you?"

"I don't know." She admitted, "I haven't loved that many."

"As the Goddess of Love and Beauty I find that hard to believe." Kaden teased.

"You don't have to do that." Minako echoed his earlier statement.

"What's that?" he asked not half as innocently as she did.

"You can't flirt. You never could." She reminded him and she squeezed his hand tight, "Say what you want to say."

For a moment the words wouldn't come as Kaden nearly choked on his romantic hubris. He finally managed, "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven." She hastily replied and closed her eyes, "Say the other thing."

"What other thing?" he was honestly confused now.

"The other thing that you're just _dying_ to say, Kunzite." Minako pushed him, "Just get it over with."

"I… I don't—"

"Jesus…" Minako rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of his grasp.

A split second later something like a golden comet struck Kaden hard as Minako leaped towards him. Her arms intertwined around his neck and he reacted out of instinct to embrace her slender frame which now hung a good ten inches off the ground. She pressed her lips to his and peppermint spice overwhelmed his senses, a sensation that brought with it a torrent of memories as the orderly and well-oiled assembly line of Kaden's mind lurched to a staggering halt. She parted from him and Kaden looked down into her eyes and rosy, expectant face.

The kiss had pulled it out of him and he breathed, "My beautiful Morning Star…"

"Ugh…" Minako groaned, released the towering man from her bear hug and slid back down to the floor, "That's so awful and corny and it's only because you, Mister Grim-and-Serious, came up with it that I find it at all amusing."

"Wait…" Kaden's faculties had yet to fully recover.

"Hmm?"

"What just happened?" he asked.

"We said 'Hello'." Minako answered.

"Really?" Kaden was beyond confused, "I don't think that's what I heard."

"Do I need to say it again?" Minako shrugged.

Kaden may not have been able to flirt in this life or the last, but he was not a man to let a chance at exploiting such an opportunity pass him by.

He smiled knowingly at her and said, "I think maybe you should."


	8. Chapter Seven

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Zora tossed and turned as he struggled for sleep. The weight of recent events, the unfamiliar surroundings, and the thin tatami mat all conspired to keep him restless and acutely aware of every possible distraction—every rustle of wind through the sakura branches outside, every motor, horn, and sound of the city, and every pop and hiss from the roaring fire several rooms away. On that last note Zora wasn't about to demand that his gracious Senshi host douse the flames just so he could get his beauty rest, but why the _hell_ was there a bonfire burning in the middle of the night _inside_ a building made primarily of wood and paper?

Zora's whole body snapped sideways again as he failingly continued to find comfort in the dark, foreign space. If it wasn't the sounds and alien environment that chased away sleep every time it tried to creep up it was the instant-replay loop of the past forty-eight hours continually running through his weary mind. Of course there was also the belt-sander-like quality of Neil's snoring from where he lay nearby to Zora's left, blissfully dead to the world. Zora grumbled loudly and a third shape suddenly sprang up from the floor on the right.

"Jiro, you up?" Zora yawned, "Where are you going?"

"Between his snoring and your thrashing I might as well go sleep in the street!" Jiro grumbled.

"Yeah, but…" Zora sleepily stalled, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to wander around until I pass out." The blonde man answered through stretching and joints popping.

"Uh-huh." Groaned Zora and he let his head fall back on the tatami to continue his fruitless pursuit of rest.

Jiro simply shook his head and slid the paper shoji door open as quietly as possible and stepped out into a hallway. He took in his surroundings which consisted of a dark stained wooden floor and identical rice paper walls surrounding him on all sides which instantly forced him to realize he had no idea where he was going. The Hikawa Shrine was not a particularly large building, but his unfamiliarity with it made it all the more intimidating. He spied the glow of flames through the thin walls and decided if nothing else standing in front of a bonfire on a cold January night would be an agreeable way to kill some time.

As soon as he slid the door open, in spite of the roaring fire, a chill shot through his body. A young woman knelt before the brazier with her knee-length, jet black hair draped around her slender shoulders like a silk blanket. Her hands were woven together in a posture Jiro recognized aspart of a meditative _kuji-in_ mantra that his intrusion was obviously interrupting. Shining aubergine eyes were suddenly upon him and his overworked, under-rested body reacted awkwardly.

"Hi!" he announced his arrival with a lopsided grin and flapping hand wave.

"Jiro." Rei didn't quite greet him, "Is there something you need?"

"No, just, um… walking." Jiro answered mightily, "Neil is the only one getting any sleep tonight, probably because of all the booze, so I figured I'd stretch my legs."

"The pantry is down the hall to the left if you'd like something to eat." Rei told him and then turned back toward the fire, readjusted her posture, and began again, "_Rin, Pyo, Toh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen…"_

She continued through her mantra many times as her hands crossed and fingers folded into seemingly painful shapes. Small droplets of sweat beaded on her brow from both the heat of the flames and the rapidity of her motion. Rei's senses were consumed by her meditation, but even so she could feel the intrusive weight beside her and after a final repetition she stopped and sourly glanced to her left where Jiro sat cross-legged staring at her through scraggly, bed-mussed blonde curls.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to leave?"

"You can do what you like." Rei replied.

"What are you doing?" he asked in wonderment before she could chastise him.

"Meditating." She curtly answered.

"So are you technically Buddhist?" Jiro asked on instinct.

"What?" Rei snapped.

"Well… I grew up in America, but I was born Chinese. You know, before the whole Dark Kingdom thing…" Jiro told her, "My parents were Buddhist. I recognize the hand gestures."

"_Mudra_." Rei corrected him in turn, "And certain sects of Shinto adopted Buddhist customs. Many Japanese practice both faiths."

"Right." Jiro agreed, "And if you don't mind my asking, why do you, uh… meditate in front of a roaring fire?" He hesitated for a moment, "I mean, it seems kind of distracting."

"Meditation is more rewarding in a _difficult_ environment." She answered with emphasis.

"Ah." Jiro sighed, "I thought it had something to do with you being the Sailor Senshi of Fire."

"And what business is that of yours?" Rei was immediately defensive.

"None!" Jiro was honestly surprised by her reaction, "I thought maybe this is how you learned to control it, or trained, or something…"

As Jiro trailed off Rei realized that despite her fiery elemental abilities her reception to the three men who wandered into her shrine earlier that night on Minako's orders could have been described as frosty. Before Usagi came into her life all those years ago Rei had been characterized by peers and bullies as a cold, detached, antisocial loner thanks to her near-orphan family life and "spooky" psychic abilities. However Rei did not lack emotion or empathy like the sociopath many thought she would turn out to be. By her own estimation, perhaps second only to Usagi, Rei's emotions ran the deepest and hit the hardest of anyone in their group. It was through meditation that she trained to keep her passions in check, represented by the fire, lest they consume her. Thinking on her past isolation she relaxed somewhat and decided to answer Jiro's seemingly innocent question.

"You can't control fire through meditation, but you can use it to focus." She explained, "The flames represent passion and emotional chaos. Maintaining clarity in the face of the heat and smoke and noise helps me to better control my own passions so they don't overwhelm me."

"I've heard that you sometimes see visions in the fire?" Jiro questioned.

"Sometimes." Rei admitted, "But my psychic abilities are very difficult to control." She turned to face him, "I sometimes envy Mamoru for the ease with which he mastered his power."

"Yeah, well…" Jiro's face suddenly fell and his shoulders slumped, "They didn't do him much good tonight."

In that moment Rei's suspicions about the Shitennou's (Jiro's at least) involvement in the explosion that destroyed Crown was put to rest. The young man looked so remorseful and dejected at the sound of Mamoru's name that Rei didn't need a psychic vision to show her that he was innocent. Without the slate gray uniform of the Dark Kingdom and the permanent superior smirk he used to wear Jiro looked quite different than the Jadeite that once kidnapped her with a supposedly haunted bus. He looked much more vulnerable now; more _human_.

"Do you mind if I stay?" he hazarded the question carefully.

"Jiro…" Rei answered slowly, "I think you should go try to get some sleep."

He didn't answer immediately, correctly assuming there was more that needed to be said.

"I don't want to be cruel." She told him, "But I also don't want to give you any false hope or waste your time."

"I'm sorry?" Jiro cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"We both remember our past together." She revealed, "I remember the things we said to each other and the times we shared, but to me those people, Mars and Jadeite, are gone. I've lived a very different life and I have different dreams and goals than the princess I used to be."

She hesitated, not because of Jiro's reaction, but her own. She realized too late that she was crying and could now only wipe away the tears rather than halting them outright. She didn't even know why she was crying. She had turned down men's advances for years, even some that she very easily could have fallen in love with. Her thoughts briefly wandered to Kaidou, her estranged father's assistant who bore a remarkable resemblance to Jadeite, but she refocused quickly.

"Having a relationship, a lover… even a family of my own isn't something I need or even think about." Rei continued, "I've found kindred souls with the same goals and dreams in the other Sailor Guardians."

"Rei-san." Jiro said smiling, boyish in his sincerity, "I don't care about all of that."

"You don't?" Rei sniffed, somewhat relieved, somewhat even more anxious.

"I don't know that many people. I've been cooped up in a tiny apartment with the other three for two years!" Jiro said seeming absolutely exhausted, "I was just hoping to find someone else to talk to!"

Rei laughed at that, unrestrained and honest. She wasn't yet sure if she could take what Jiro said at face value, but if his intention was only to chat (and now cheer) her up, he was succeeding.

"I've thought about the lives we once had." Jiro confirmed, "And it makes me sad, too."

"I didn't think it would." Rei confided, "Make me sad, I mean."

"For years when I was younger I didn't know who I was or what I was reborn for." He explained, "Until I met the others and began searching for our Master."

He continued, "I understand how you feel. The four of us have the same goals and dreams. We are kindred spirits much like you and the other Sailor Guardians… And now that we've found our Master it's our duty to protect him, in spite of the bang-up job we're doing right now."

"Your devotion to your Prince is admirable." Rei complimented him.

"I know that Mars and Jadeite are long gone." Jiro spoke warmly, "But that doesn't mean Rei and Jiro have to keep each other at arm's length. They could still be friends, right?"

"They could." She answered with a smile.

"Excellent!" Jiro clapped his hands and was suddenly giddy with excitement. He scooted across the floor to be closer and said, "So, friend, show me how to do the thing!"

Rei rolled her eyes at his antics, but nevertheless explained in detail the _kuji-in_ ritual, the meanings behind the _mudra_ hand shapes and their corresponding syllables. In short order Jiro was kneeling next to her in an identical pose as he repeated the mantra and made the gestures. Rei, impressed by how quickly he caught on to the ritual, joined him in meditation. The moment the first syllable _Rin_ left her lips Rei felt something distinctly different than raw, scintillating heat that normally accompanied her mediations. She opened her eyes and gasped.

The billowing flames of the shrine's brazier had collected together into a white and blue sphere not unlike the smoldering head of a match. The fire rippled upward in controlled waves and she instinctively reached out to touch the strange phenomenon, but caught herself short. Instead she turned to her left to find Jiro kneeling nearby, placid and with his entire body glowing in a light blue aura. It looked as if his hair had grown by several inches and his clothes changed as well. A cream colored cape lined with rich earthy brown hung from jeweled epaulettes on the shoulders of a pale blue, double-breasted jacket. He knelt on armored greaves and a sword dangled from his hip.

_What is this?_ Rei asked mentally. _A dream? A memory?_

She looked down and saw her own robes had changed into a deep crimson gown and a rusty bronze jeweled collar hung from her neck.

_Jadeite. _She heard her voice speak as if from far away. _Knight of Patience and Harmony._

She turned left again and now ice blue eyes were upon her. He smiled and the fire orb flared in response. The intensity of the scene thrust Rei backward in both body and mind and she fell hard on her back in front of the now quiet and smoldering embers of the shrine's extinguished bonfire. She quickly pushed herself off the floor and sprang to her feet. Light was streaming in through the outer windows, her perception of time while in the psychic trance obviously altered. When she turned she found Jiro similarly splayed out on the floor.

"Jiro!" she cried and rushed to his side.

The young man's eyes fluttered open in surprise and then a painful grimace overtook his calm features.

"Ow." He whined and clutched his head with both hands.

"Are you alright?" she asked and helped him back into a seated position.

"I'm not sure." He mumbled, "What happened?"

"There was a—a … vision." Rei struggled to affix a name to the strange experience, "I didn't know you were psychic."

"I'm not." Jiro winced.

"But… I _saw_ you!" Rei revealed, "You were dressed in your knight's armor. You looked right at me!"

"My armor?" Jiro pondered, "I think it must have been a memory."

"But it felt…" Rei considered, "… _New_."

"Jiro!" A voice from beyond the paper walls called and shortly Zora entered the room looking unkempt and hurried, "Finally, there you are!"

"Zora?" Jiro blinked in confusion.

"Kaden just called." Zora presented his phone in case hard evidence was necessary, "Mamoru's awake and he wants us to go to the hospital. I need your help waking up Boozy McDrinks-A-Lot and holy Jesus _SHIT_ Jiro, why are you _glowing_?!"

Jiro's head snapped back and he brought his hands up to his face. Rei, just as shocked as Zora, finally noticed that Jiro was indeed emitting a faint aquamarine luminescence across the entirety of his body. Panic struck as in Jiro's mind the image of an overbearingly furious Kaden began to form.

"Well." Jiro gulped, "_This_ certainly feels new."

"Turn it off!" Zora yelped as he closed the distance across the room.

"I'm not a light switch, Zora!" Jiro barked.

"Both of you calm down." Rei demanded, "Jiro, concentrate."

Obediently, the literally radiant young man closed his eyes and focused. It had been a long time since he had stretched these particular metaphysical muscles and it took considerable effort just to remember how to exert his willpower in that particular fashion, but after several minutes of sweat and effort the light dissipated in a cloud of blue effervescence. Jiro let out a satisfied sigh and slumped forward.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Zora shivered as he spoke, "You know Kaden would have your ass in a sling for that!"

"Well I didn't mean to!" Jiro defended himself.

"We were meditating." Rei interjected, "And sometimes it becomes difficult to maintain control over one's… _forces_."

"Uh-huh." Zora smirked at the chance to exploit innuendo, but let it pass.

"Just keep your mouth shut about this when we get the hospital." Jiro commanded as he rose to stand on wobbly legs, "Or do I have to worry about you stabbing me in the back?"

"When have I _ever_ done that?" Zora looked appalled.

Jiro raised his hand, pinky extended and ready to count off on his fingers the many times Zora had done _just_ that. At that moment Neil slogged his way into the room, hair exploding in all directions, and wearing a pair of red boxer shorts and nothing else.

"Morning." He grumbled and scratched unmentionably.

Rei buried her face in her hands as the final shreds of sanctity in her shrine were consumed by the heinous odor of sweat, whiskey and shame pounding off of Neil in waves. At least they were headed to a hospital, she quietly considered, since he smelt as though he'd died weeks ago.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Zora said politely and gave a slight bow, "I'm sure you're ready for us to get out of your hair."

"Some of you." Rei spoke out the side of her mouth with a half-smirk.

"Well unless we plan on magically rebuilding our house, I'm sure we'll probably see you again soon." Jiro said reminding the gathered party that they were still very much homeless.

"You are of course welcome to stay here as long as you require." Rei told them courteously while she glanced with one eye at the offending form of Neil where he stood yawning in the doorway, oblivious to the world.

"Thank you." Zora replied and turned to find Neil's hairy chest directly behind him, "Somebody want to get this walking carpet out of my face?"

"Hah!" Jiro yelped with laughter. Neil simply shrugged and followed Zora out of the room.

"Wait." Jiro was stopped from following along by Rei's hand on his shoulder, "I need to understand what happened last night."

"What?" Jiro asked and his face fell when he read Rei's grim expression, "What do you mean?"

"I was under the impression that you and the others all agreed to suppress your powers unless called upon by Mamoru."

"We did." Jiro agreed, "But Rei, whatever just happened was an accident!"

"An accident that caused us both to lose consciousness for an extended period of time. Not to mention the glowing!" Rei returned.

"It's been a long time since I called on any of my powers." Jiro explained, "Maybe meditating awakened them somehow."

"Or maybe your control has weakened over time?" Rei surmised.

"So we won't meditate together again." Jiro replied sullenly, "I just wanted to try it."

"You don't understand." Rei shook her head, "The energy within this shrine is strong. Now that you have touched it the shrine and especially the sacred fire will act as a lightning rod for your power. It will be more difficult than ever to control."

"Is that why you spend so much time meditating here?" Jiro asked suddenly, "Because you find controlling your own power so difficult?"

"Excuse me?" Rei inhaled sharply at the boldness of his question.

"I know I look it and act it sometimes, but I'm not the child that the others think I am." Jiro replied seriously, "I sensed that you struggle to maintain control of your powers; it's why you meditate in front of the fire."

"Why would you notice something like that?" Rei crossed her arms in defiance.

"Because I agree with you." He answered, then added sheepishly, "And I was, you know, kinda hoping you could help me regain the control I've lost."

"Jiro…" Rei spoke in monotone after a studying moment, "Did you engineer this situation just to spend more time with me?"

"What?" Jiro stepped back feigning shock as hard as he could, "No, I—I lost control, just like you said!"

"Jiro."

"Who knows what else might happen?" he rattled on, "I might spontaneously combust one day!"

"Jiro."

"Hmm?"

"Get out." Rei flicked her finger towards the door.

"Yes ma'am." Jiro bowed his head and shuffled obediently away.

"And Jiro?" Rei called after his defeated, retreating form, "If you really are interested in learning greater control over your powers…"

"Yes!" Jiro barked happily.

"I begin meditating every morning at 4AM."

With that she turned her back and walked out the other side of the room leaving Jiro standing in the doorway contemplating the difficult choice of whether or not waking up at such an ungodly hour really was worth it in order to spend more time around the fiery priestess. He then recalled the old adage of "I'll sleep when I'm dead" and considering that he had already technically been dead, twice, that he'd stocked up quite a bit of sleep credit and insomnia was a small price to pay. He happily skipped out of the room to face the day.

* * *

"Hey, boss!" Zora chirped as he bounded into the hospital room to find a less-disheveled and much more conscious Mamoru sitting up in bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Boss?" Mamoru croaked, his throat a bit raw from the dry hospital air.

"We decided that since we can't follow you around calling you Master in public -because that might not paint the best picture of our relationship- that you needed a new title!" He quipped.

"_He_ decided." Neil stressed with a yawn, "Not _we_."

"Well, I guess I'll take what I can get." Mamoru smiled.

"I heard you guys stayed with Rei-chan last night." Usagi mentioned from where she sat at Mamoru's bedside, "It wasn't too scary, was it?"

"Not at all!" Jiro immediately answered a little too loudly, "We had a great time, didn't we?"

"I was asleep." Answered Neil, "So yeah, I guess."

"I was awake listening to you snore like a frigging woodworking shop." Zora complained.

Usagi grinned at Jiro who was the only one to reply positively. Her subconscious scheming did not go unnoticed.

"Ah, they're here." Kaden announced as he entered the room with the petite blonde girl they had (literally) run into the night before at his side.

"Where did you two run off to?" Usagi instantly teased.

"To get a scandalous cup of coffee." Minako answered cheekily and turned to the three newcomers, "Nice to see you all survived the night at Chez Rei."

"Jiro, Neil, Zora, this is Minako." Kaden made introductions, "I'm sure you all remember her."

"I don't." Neil spoke up.

"Yes you do." Kaden dismissed him without a glance.

"No seriously, I don't." Neil scratched his head, "I mean, I know she's Sailor Venus, but I feel like there's something _more_ I should remember…"

If Kaden were capable of blushing he might have, but he simply threw a commanding _knock it off_ glance in Neil's direction and the provoking commentary dried up into a knowing smirk. Usagi couldn't quite stifle a giggle and Minako's wink which followed didn't help diffuse the situation. Zora's eyes grew wide as he suddenly understood what was being wordlessly communicated. Mamoru simply shook his head and immediately regretted it as he swooned.

"Master?" Kaden jumped to attention and was at his side in a flash.

"I thought it was 'boss' now?" Mamoru gurgled.

"Boss?" Kaden cringed and looked toward his men.

"You weren't there when we decided." Zora indicated.

"_He_." Neil grunted again.

"Are you alright?" Jiro asked in a more helpful tone.

"Yeah, still just a little groggy." Mamoru answered.

"I used the Ginzuishou to bring him out of the coma." Usagi whispered with a frown, "But he's still hurt."

"We can't heal him completely without arousing suspicion." Minako said. She then gestured toward Neil, "Can you get the door?"

Neil obliged and pulled the door closed and then joined the rest of the group as they crowded tightly together around Mamoru's bed.

"I'm sorry we couldn't protect you." Zora apologized suddenly looking shattered.

"There's no need for that." Mamoru assured his men, "There's nothing any of us could have done. I'm only glad that I pinged to the danger soon enough."

"Pinged?" Jiro giggled.

"I don't know what else to call it." Mamoru chuckled back, "Tuxedo-Sense doesn't have the same ring."

"Nevertheless, you could have been killed." Kaden was firm, "Our failure was inexcusable."

"Kaden…" Mamoru rolled his eyes.

"As was yours." His guardian continued, "Throwing yourself in front of the blast the way you did!"

"Are we really having this argument?" Mamoru turned to Usagi and Minako for support, but received noncommittal shrugs in response.

"Master—" Kaden began.

"Boss." Mamoru raised a pointed finger and cut him off.

"You cannot be so careless with your safety." Kaden continued on in spite, "One false step and whoever perpetrated the attack may well have met their goal and destroyed you!"

"I don't think so." Mamoru disagreed.

"You know he's right." Usagi pouted, "You've become more reckless in your old age, Mamo-chan."

"Usako!" Mamoru groaned in embarrassment and frowned at Kaden, "I swear you two meeting is one of the worst decisions I've ever made."

"Almost blowing yourself up was worse." Neil coughed.

"Look, I don't think I was in as much danger as you think." Mamoru reoriented the conversation, "Because I don't think I was being targeted."

"What do you mean?" Zora inhaled, "You think…"

"Us?!" Jiro gaped, "Who would want to kill us?"

"Pick a random name out of a phone book." Neil suggested.

"You guys did freeze all of Tokyo that one time." Minako nudged the immovable Kaden with her elbow. Everyone took note for later scrutiny.

"And there's a damn good chance that doctor the other day recognized Zora." Jiro thumbed in his partner's direction, "From back when he was cross-dressing."

"Cross-dressing?" Minako was instantly interested.

"What doctor?" Mamoru sprang up in worry.

"Her name was Mizuno." Kaden answered.

"Oh, well that's a relief." He sighed and leaned back down into his bed, "Dr. Saeke Mizuno is Ami's mother."

"Sailor Mercury." Usagi clarified. Directly at Zora.

"And between Ami and Rei's investigation we determined that some sort of force was possessing Motoki when he turned on the gas." Minako added.

"Has anyone found him yet?" Mamoru asked desperately.

"Not yet." Usagi sounded crushed, "But Mako-chan is out looking. If anybody can find them, she will."

"Them?" Zora wondered.

"Motoki's girlfriend Reika is missing too." Minako revealed, "We went to her apartment, but it's deserted."

"The bottom line is who or whatever did this isn't a normal person who ran afoul of the Dark Kingdom." Mamoru explained, "It's someone like us. A creature with powers to possess one of our friends."

"And that apparently has a score to settle." Jiro grimaced, "Are you sure?"

"Think about it." Their Master elaborated, "Crown was your home. How would anyone have known that I would be there with you too?"

"Kaden?" Zora asked after gnawing on this thumb for a moment, "You're awfully quiet considering the possibilities."

"I agree with Mamoru." Kaden answered surprising no one, "Our first act should be to find Motoki."

"Your _first_ act should be to find a safe place to lay low for a while." Mamoru countered, "Until we can plan our next move."

"Look, boss." Neil stepped up, "If we got some hot shitbiscuit with a chip on his shoulder trying to go all _Anarchist's Cookbook_ on us the last thing we're going to do is run off and hide our heads in the sand."

"Well said." Minako looked honestly impressed and then repeated, "Shitbiscuit…"

"Like that?" Neil smirked, "I got loads more, honey."

"Great." Kaden grumbled and his head slumped slightly.

"What?" Minako cooed up at him, "Worried he's going to rub off on me before you do?"

Usagi squealed and her hands shot up to cover her mouth and stifle any laughter. Mamoru turned a slightly darker shade of red and tried to focus his attention on the ceiling tiles and their terribly uninteresting pattern. Kaden simply closed his eyes and breathed steadily.

"Soooooo…" Jiro drew out the syllable in confusion, "What's going on here exactly?"

"We're leaving." Kaden announced swiftly and bowed, "I'm glad you're feeling better master, and I deeply apologize once again."

"Thanks." Mamoru waved the apology away, "But please don't take what I said lightly. Keep your heads down. Be careful."

"When are we not?" Jiro laughed.

"When you're meditating with Sailor Mars." Zora said and instantly gasped at his slip.

"What?" Kaden jumped on it, "What happened?"

"Zora!" Jiro shouted in betrayal, "What the hell?!"

"I'm sorry." He meekly replied, "It just slipped out."

"What did you do?" Kaden demanded.

"Nothing!" Jiro uselessly tried to defend himself, "She was just teaching me a meditation technique."

"And?" Kaden prodded.

"And…" he tried to trail off.

"Jiro."

"And, fine whatever!" Jiro threw his hands up in defeat, "I got in a little too deep and maybe lost a tiny little insignificant bit of control over a miniscule sliver of my powers."

"You lost control of your powers?" Kaden accused him in a critical tone.

"Lit up like a blue raspberry glow stick from what I heard." Minako added.

"See?" Zora pointed in Minako's direction, "It would've gotten out eventually anyway."

"I'm still going to beat your ass." Jiro growled.

"And I'm going to beat all of yours!" Kaden threatened, "We've all grown too complacent. We haven't had a proper training session in months." He turned to Mamoru, "If you agree… boss."

"Kaden, you can use your powers all you want." Mamoru told him, "You don't have to ask my permission."

"Yes I do." His guardian remained coldly adamant.

"Fine." Mamoru waved him off, "Permission given. Er… granted."

Kaden turned to Zora and asked, "How's that for being afraid of my power?"

Zora didn't reply so Neil took the opportunity to say, "Quit showing off for your girlfriend."

After the heated argument that followed the four men were once again led from the hospital by annoyed nurses and sour looking security guards for disturbing an entire floor's convalescence.

* * *

A short time later those same four men stood on the bustling sidewalk across the street from where a team of construction vehicles behind a thick wall webbed with yellow caution tape were in the process of tearing down the last remains of the Crown Fruit Parlor &amp; Arcade. In a few days the lot would be vacant, repairs to neighboring buildings would be complete, and life would go on for most everyone in Tokyo as it always had minus one small local landmark. They stood silently observing the wreckage as the machinery plowed the earth under and the charred remains of their home and belongings were shoveled into garbage trucks.

"Well." Jiro took in a deep breath, "Looks like we're going to be spending lots of time at Ikea."

"We need a place to live first." Zora reminded him.

"I'm fine to keep crashing at the Hikawa Shrine." Neil suggested as he stretched his arms out over his head, "It's quiet, peaceful… nice scenery."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Jiro snorted.

"I meant the bonsai and the rock gardens." Neil argued, "Don't get your tits in a twist."

"I'm sure Rei would love having your loud, rude, offensive ass just hanging around all the time." Jiro casually insulted.

"Maybe she would." Neil remarked, "She seems a little _too_ perfect and poised if you ask me. I could probably help loosen her up."

Jiro's face flushed, but he otherwise didn't answer so Zora added, "Fight nice, children."

"We're not going anywhere." Kaden suddenly stated.

"Huh?" came the collective grunt.

"We're not looking for a new place to live." Kaden continued cryptically, "Not again."

"Well obviously _you_ don't have to." Neil laughed.

"Meaning?" Kaden cocked an eyebrow at the statement.

"Meaning pretty soon you'll be shacking up with Minako." Neil nudged him, "Am I right?"

Kaden twisted his face into a sneer which wordlessly communicated his intention not to dignify that statement with an answer.

"I don't think the city will take too kindly to us squatting in a vacant lot." Jiro added, "Do we at least get to buy tents?"

"I'm going to purchase the lot." Kaden revealed, "And we're going to rebuild."

"Seriously?" Zora asked and turned towards the bulldozers and backhoes, "Why?"

"Because whoever did this made it personal." Kaden growled icily, "To kidnap Mamoru's best friend, destroy his livelihood, our home, and try to kill us all… Mamoru was right. Whoever is responsible for this _knows_ who we are."

"Shouldn't that be all the more reason to go somewhere else?" Jiro puzzled.

"No." Kaden was firm, "I won't be intimidated or scared away by this."

"Damn!" Neil whistled, "One night with Venus and suddenly Kunzite's back."

"Shut up, Neil." Kaden ordered without even turning his head.

"So what do you plan to do?" Zora queried, "Rebuild it just like it was?"

"No. We need to build something new." Kaden answered and turned to face the group, "There's something I've been thinking about lately."

He continued, "Buying this lot and building something new will most likely deplete what resources I have left in my inheritance. If we stay, we have to support ourselves."

"That sounds suspiciously like work." Zora complained.

"As much as we might like to believe our destinies are aligned with the knights we used to be, we have to face certain realities." Kaden explained, "Such as having to buy food, clothes, pay utility bills—"

"Ugh, stop." Zora clapped his hands over his ears.

"Listen up, bitch." Neil ordered and pried Zora's hands away from his head, "Developing a work ethic would be good for you."

"So basically we all have to get jobs?" Jiro asked, "And start living like normal people? With jobs?"

"More or less." Kaden supplied, "But as I said, I've been thinking about something."

"Well try not to be vague about it." Neil sassed.

"How would you feel about going into business together?"

Silence was the enthusiastic reply that Kaden received.

"You can't be serious." Zora broke the silence as expected.

"Would you prefer to find employment elsewhere?" Kaden barked, "Perhaps at a McDonalds? Or performing manual labor? Or as a low-level corporate cog slaving away for a boss you hate?"

"I already have to take orders from you where Mamoru is involved." Zora argued, "Why would I want to _work_ for you, too?"

"Not working for _me_." Kaden corrected, "Working for _us_."

"Don't you all want something to call your own?" Kaden challenged the group, "Something to be proud of? Something you built into success with your own two hands with nothing but your skill and desire to drive you?"

"You know you could probably land a decent paying gig as a motivational coach." Neil surmised.

Kaden ignored him and continued, "Before we finally found our Master again I felt that we were drifting further and further from what made us who we are: our shared goals, our unity. I was going to bring this up weeks ago, but even after everything that's happened I still feel that we need something to focus our efforts upon. Something collaborative that we can truly be proud of!"

"Let's just say for a moment that we're open to this lunatic suggestion." Zora began.

"I'm open to it!" Jiro interjected.

"I haven't said no yet." Neil pointed out.

"Okay, let's say that _I'm_ somehow brainwashed and decide to play along." Zora clarified, "What sort of business, pray tell, would we go into?"

"I was thinking about a restaurant." Kaden declared.

"A restaurant?" Zora grinned maniacally and shook his head in disbelief, "Sweet Jesus let's not start with something simple like a hot dog cart."

"A restaurant allows us a great amount of flexibility." Kaden elaborated, "We can each have input on the menu, on the décor, and, most importantly, it can act as a place for everyone to meet in the event of danger."

"Everyone?" wondered Jiro, "You mean the Sailor Senshi."

"If necessary." Kaden agreed.

"Wait." Neil's eyes drew down to thin slits, "I detect a motive."

"Yes." Kaden answered, "A motive to build a restaurant."

"We don't know a god damned thing about running a business." Neil returned, "And half of you can't cook."

"Hey!" Jiro and Zora shouted as one.

"You're saying we can't learn?" Kaden retaliated, "Night classes, online courses, Wikipedia—"

"Kaden, spill it."

"Common sense, Neil?" Kaden shot back, "You don't think we couldn't figure it out on our own?"

"You're showing off again." Neil triumphantly showed his teeth, "Seriously, dude? One night and she's got you building her a restaurant?"

"I'm not playing this game, Neil." Kaden was menacing.

"But?"

"But what?"

"Buuuuut…?" Neil continued prodding.

"Fine." Kaden caved after long moment of torturous eye contact, "When I told her about this idea she mentioned that her friend Makoto has always wanted to own a restaurant of her own and that she's sure she would be more than happy to help us with ours."

"Wow." Neil looked shocked and appalled, "You told Minako before you told us."

"Honestly, Kaden." Zora joined in the fun, "You've known her for less than a day."

"Do you have baby names picked out yet?" Jiro chortled.

"Yes, go ahead. Everybody get a good laugh." Kaden didn't even bother trying to fight the new tide of turmoil he'd have to endure every time Minako's name was mentioned, despite the fact that nothing had happened between them aside from a single kiss and a ten hour conversation about life, death, and that single kiss.

"Everybody done?" he asked after a few moments of mirth, "Can we decide if we can make this restaurant plan work?"

"How about a bar instead?" Neil offered, "Way less work."

"How about a restaurant?" Kaden shot him down.

"How about a bar _and_ a restaurant?" Jiro gave a third suggestion, "A bar and grill!"

"Yes!" Neil slapped a high five to his younger companion, "Now that's some Grade-A fucking collaboration."

"A bar and grill…" Kaden pondered the thought.

"I see it!" Jiro giddily drew his hand across the open air like an invisible marquee, "The Four Kings Bar and Grill!"

Silence descended then. The sounds of the bustling city faded into the distance. The four men traded expectant glances as epiphany was reached.

"Did that just happen?" Jiro was breathless.

"Yay." Zora spat, still less than enamored by the looming prospect of actual work ahead of him.

"Gentlemen," Kaden said proudly, "Sometimes the universe simply rewards great ideas."

"Indeed it does." Neil agreed and threw his arms around his three companions, "Let's go drink until we forget ours."


	9. Chapter Eight

_DVD COMMENTARY: Hi! It's me again. Remember me? I'm the guy who writes this stuff! Sometimes I write several chapters in one night! Sometimes it takes me over a month to finish just one… I apologize again for the delay, but work has been very work-ish lately what with this certain big American telecom company going on strike and massively complicating my life, but that's not your problem, it's mine. I just wanted to pop in for a second to let everyone know that I am still alive and so is this story, but my output might remain a little on the slow side this summer. But hey, Sailor Moon Crystal recently started up the Infinity Arc, so you've at least got that to tide you over! Cheers!_

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"You said I'd do _what_?!" Makoto snapped.

Her voice was shriller than Ami had heard in quite some time which signified that she was extremely upset. Being as how anger was not one of Makoto's default emotions it was jarring to hear her throaty, jovial voice ratchet up so high. Whoever was on the other end of the phone (she suspected Minako because it was _always _Minako) was striking a rather unpleasant nerve. She turned to Rei who sat next to her at the kitchen table. The priestess' left eyebrow twitched in irritation and she repeatedly rapped a single ruby-tipped finger against the electronics-laden wooden surface.

"I want to own a bakery, Minako. _Bay-ker-ey_." Makoto stressed, "And _maybe _a flower shop, not run a full-fledged frigging restaurant!"

Ami allowed herself a tiny grin now that the caller's identity was revealed. Rei shrugged and let her chin drop into a waiting hand for support.

"Well I don't care what _The Guys _think. I haven't met any of them yet!" Makoto told her sarcastically and then waited as the voice on the other end of the line plead her case, "You know, when you say things like that it makes me seriously question your fitness to be our leader." After a few more seconds Makoto rolled her eyes, "No, I wasn't actually being serious..."

Ami's brow furrowed in confusion as to the other, muted half of the conversation.

"Fine. Whatever." Makoto finally caved with a skyward sigh, "Just don't do or say anything else until I get the lay of the land." She was about to hang up, but suddenly snapped, "And don't tell them I said yes yet!" The hum of an empty line replied and she clicked off her phone with an aggravated, "Damn it!"

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" Rei queried in an annoyed tone.

"Not really." She grumbled and slumped back down at Ami's kitchen table, "Apparently the Shitennou are opening a restaurant."

"Hah!" Not much got a full-fledged laugh out of Rei, but that did, "A _what_?!"

"Yuuuup." Makoto smacked her lips, "And Minako told Kaden that I'd be more than happy to help them out, what with my culinary prowess apparently available at her beck and call."

"Minako does have a history of, um…" Ami pondered, "Volunteering without consent."

"I think they call that slavery." Makoto replied.

"I'm sure she means well." Ami assumed, "Although I'm still worried that she's taking the Shitennou's reappearance much too lightly."

"Meh…" Makoto was dismissive, "From what I've heard they're harmless."

"What have you heard?" Rei wondered.

"Well, I mean between what you told us about meditating with Jiro and Minako and Usagi acting like they're long-lost members of our weird little family it just seems like they're, you know…" Makoto explained with a shrug, "Guys."

"_Boys_, more like it." Rei stressed and stood up.

"Where are you headed?" asked Makoto.

"Back home. It's been a long day." Rei answered as she slipped into her overcoat, "And Jiro swears he's coming to mediate tomorrow morning so I'll need to be rested for that."

"Heh. Good luck." Makoto chuckled.

"Ami, you'll let me know if you come up with any leads on Motoki and Reika?" Rei asked.

"Of course." Ami replied and motioned to the various electronics splayed before her, "I'm nearly finished recalibrating my computer to scan within the EM parameters of your visions at Crown."

"Hopefully we get something soon." Makoto murmured, "I don't like how they just dropped off the map like that... What does he _want_?"

"We'll find them." Rei reassured her friend knowing full well her fondness for the arcade's former caretaker.

Makoto's thoughts wandered far enough away from her friend's kitchen table that she didn't even notice Rei's exit. Images drifted into her mind and roiled into a kind of cloudy kaleidoscope. She thought back on the times spent in the Crown arcade with her friends and the many desserts in the quaint little fruit parlor above. She envisioned the explosion and Motoki's face deformed with alien cruelty. Her breaths became constricted as she imagined his reaction upon seeing what his possessed self had done.

All at once she redirected her concentration on the looming prospect of not only meeting the Shitennou again, but helping them, becoming close to them even, in their desire to open a restaurant. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. They had only recently reappeared into their lives and now they were young entrepreneurs? From what she remembered of Queen Beryl's kings it didn't seem to fit. Of course, they weren't kings anymore… They weren't knights either. _Knights_, she thought, _And they call me the hopeless romantic…_

The thought of those knights brought her back to that moment long ago in a foreign kingdom; her first visit to the alien Earth.

_It was the day on the hill, out on the vast green fields beneath the stalwart branches of a broad, looming tree. Before she even saw the four men standing there she felt the warmth of nature inviting on the wind. The emerald sea of grass begged her to lie down in the sun and forget her troubles. The towering tree beckoned and welcomed her, its mighty roots feeling a kinship with the guardian's indomitable strength. The whole planet felt fresh and verdant, so unlike ancient Jupiter. In an instant she understood why Serenity had fallen in love with the young planet. In another instant she understood why she fell in love with one of its people._

_Endymion's knights stood beneath the tree. Each wore a double-breasted jacket lightly dyed in pastel shades of salmon, blue, red and green. Each wore a cape that reached to the ground and flowed out behind them in the steady breeze. They wore steel boots, but no other protection. She imagined they must have had full suits of armor of their own like Endymion, but for whatever reason chose not to wear it. Perhaps they were sparring which would explain why they carried swords. This meeting had been expected for weeks, but neither group yet approached the other. It was only a matter of time until Serenity's clandestine visits to the Earth and her guardian's retrieval missions were discovered. Venus' diplomacy, Jupiter was sure, was all that had saved their Silver Millennium from the wrath of the man she called Kunzite the first time a Sailor Guardian was discovered on Earth's soil. Now as she stood upon the planet facing their counterparts openly, she could not envision Kunzite ever raising a hand to do any creature harm, let alone Venus whose entire body seemed to lift off the ground at his gaze._

_While three of the knights stood facing them, stern but hospitable, the fourth stood to one side, eyes cast downward seemingly aloof and uninterested. His hair was long at his shoulders and the dark brown tufts brought to her mind images of deep forests. His eyes were red, though ruddy like wine and not the piercing scarlet of a wild predator. His build was broader than the rest and he stood nearly as tall as Kunzite. Even without his uniform Jupiter would have detected the warrior within._

_When he finally turned and caught her eye she realized that his contentious demeanor was not a symptom of boredom or haughtiness, but of duty. With Kunzite smitten as he was with Venus as anyone could plainly see, command of the knights fell to Nephrite. He was on guard, protective and vigilant. Jupiter's heart swelled and her stomach fluttered recognizing the same devotion in him that she felt to Serenity. A curt nod greeted her and in spite of herself she could not think of anything else than the chance to meet him again without Kunzite around, when he did not need to stay on his guard, and to know the man behind the knight._

"Nephrite." Makoto heard herself say and immediately felt her face grow hot.

"Mako-chan?" Ami asked.

"Nothing, sorry." Makoto covered and attempted to busy herself by milling about Ami's apartment while she worked. After finding herself unable to sit still on the topic any longer she finally broached, "What do you think about this whole situation?"

"If you're asking about Motoki and Reika, we'll know more for certain once we locate them." Ami studiously replied.

"No, I mean what do you think about the _Guys_?" Makoto elaborated, reclaimed her seat and slid closer to Ami all in one motion, "You know, the Shitennou?"

"Oh." Ami was slow to respond, "I… Agree with Rei's assessment. I don't think they are a threat."

"Come on Ami-chan, that's not what I'm asking." Makoto pressed, "How do you _feel_ about them coming back to life?"

"To be honest Mako-chan, I don't feel much of anything." Ami said almost sadly, "I haven't given it much thought."

"Really?" Makoto seemed skeptical, "You never think about him? About Zoisite?"

"Of course I sometimes think about Zoisite." Amy blushed, "But you know as well as I do that our memories of those times are merely fragments of the whole." She continued pounding out code into her computer screen as she spoke, "Whatever relationship I, er… _Mercury_ had with Zoisite, that chapter is closed. Those people are gone."

"I just thought if you had the chance to reconnect with someone from your past, wouldn't you want to take advantage of that?"

"I don't think of my past self as being a living part of me." Ami elaborated, "I don't believe we were reborn simply to continue the threads of our old lives."

"But if you were in _love_ with him—" Makoto stressed.

"Who says I was in love with _anyone_?" Ami snapped, suddenly defensive, "Because Minako told us we went to Earth and fell in love we should take it as gospel?"

"She wouldn't lie about that and you know it." Makoto reminded her, "Usagi and Mamoru kept their love alive through so many tragedies; why shouldn't their guardians?"

"I…" Ami stalled trying to put into words exactly how she felt in a way that wouldn't offend the romantic warrior, "I don't want the same kind of love that you do, Mako-chan."

"What?"

"As a little girl I dreamed about meeting someone special; about what my wedding would be like. All the normal things." Ami fondly recalled, "But as I grew up and especially now with my life as a Sailor Guardian, I simply stopped thinking about those childhood fantasies. Between my studies, my family and friends, and my Princess, I couldn't devote myself to a single person anymore. And honestly, I don't feel any desire to do so."

"You don't want to fall in love?" Makoto seemed crushed.

"Like I said: not the way _you_ do." Ami responded with a smile, "And that's fine for me. There's so much in the world for me to love already."

"I guess our hearts are just in two different places." Makoto shrugged.

"Indeed." Ami grimaced, but her friend didn't notice her discomfort.

"So…" Makoto almost considered not asking further, but decided there was no harm in asking, "When you were a kid, what would he be like?"

"Beg pardon?" Ami asked.

"When you would imagine your special someone." Makoto winked, "What was he like?"

"Oh really Mako-chan…" Ami sighed, "Don't we have more important things to do?"

"Come on, indulge me!" Makoto pried, "It's the least you can do after raining on my parade."

"Raining on—" Ami gasped, "Honestly!"

"I'm not going to back down." Makoto declared and propped her chin up in her hands, puppy dog eyes fully weaponized.

"Fine." Ami melted, "Um… Handsome, I guess. Kind. Funny."

"There's no way he would've been that boring." Makoto realized.

"Caring. Supportive." Ami continued and she finally stopped typing on her computer, "Strong, but compassionate and endlessly empathetic."

"Hmm…" Makoto sighed wondering how many of those traits Zora might possess.

"Intelligent, obviously."

"Well, obviously." Makoto agreed.

"But street-smart." Ami immediately added, "Someone who might have spent a lot of time on their own, having to grow up too soon and having to learn to fend for themselves when the world turned cold against them."

"That's… oddly specific." Makoto swallowed and the space between her and Ami suddenly felt claustrophobic.

"Someone genuine who doesn't care what people think of them. Someone secure in who they are despite how the rest of the world sees them." Ami continued and saw that Makoto's nervously shifted, "Someone full of love who can share that love freely with everyone around them and not even realize it. Someone who would always be there for me, no matter what…"

"Jeez, Ami…" Makoto blushed slightly, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were describing me."

Ami didn't reply. Her eyes were fixed on her computer screen although she was staring a hole right through it. Makoto's heartbeat echoed in the silent kitchen.

"Ami…" Makoto asked slowly, breathlessly, "Do you- I, uh… Is that—" Ami finally turned to look at her, blue eyes shining, "I didn't know you thought about me that way…"

"I did. Years ago." Ami blinked away a tear, "You're my best friend, Mako-chan. I've always admired you and looked up to you. You're always there for me and you always see me at my best, even when I'm at my worst."

Makoto was stunned. She had always felt especially close to Ami within their small group of friends, but she never considered the love shared among them was anything other than the love of family. She was nervously shivering as she listened to her best friend speak words of admiration and affection that no one in this day and age had ever used to describe her. Confusion sparked a flame of embarrassment and though Ami could see the flush rolling over her, she continued.

"Your strength gave me courage." She said, "And your loving, caring, romantic heart, well… How couldn't that rub off on me?" She turned back towards her computer screen, "But through the years and after all the battles we fought together I realized that no matter how much I might have wished otherwise, you would always dream of something different."

"Ami, I don't know what to say." Makoto barely managed to gasp, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because I knew in my heart that if I told you, someday things would change." Ami said. Her voice betrayed no sign of regret, "And I couldn't risk damaging our friendship."

"But you can tell me _now_?" Makoto demanded feeling that short of Ami stabbing her repeatedly in the heart that no force in the galaxy could damage their friendship.

"I can tell you now because things _have_ changed. Like I said they would." Ami revealed, "Because you feel like you might have the opportunity to make your dreams come true, and I want you to know that no matter what, I'll always be here for you."

"Wait, I…" Makoto stammered, "I feel like—I don't know. I—I should be saying something. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing." Ami laughed, "It's okay. I just want to see you be happy!"

"Stop it, Ami! You're making me feel like a monster!" Makoto cried and reached out to embrace her blue haired companion.

"You're not a monster, Mako-chan." Ami consoled her, "You're a—" a harsh alarm-like tone from Ami's computer called her attention, "… Mansion."

"I'm a what?" Makoto croaked and pulled away.

"My tracking program finished its calculations." Ami answered and both women lurched fully back into full Senshi concentration, "If this is correct it's traced Motoki's movements to a mansion somewhere here in these mountains."

"A mansion?" Makoto puzzled at the location on the computer screen in the deep outskirts of the city, "Where did he get a mansion from? Is his family loaded?"

"It could be abandoned." Ami answered and her face immediately fell, "Or worse, it's not."

"We have to check it out." Makoto declared ready to rush out the door into the Tokyo night.

"In the morning." Ami warned, "I think daylight would be a safer approach until we figure out what we're up against."

"You're the boss." Makoto agreed with a smile. Ami relaxed considerably feeling that their interrupted conversation seemed at least on the surface not to be affecting their continued camaraderie.

"I'll inform Rei tomorrow and we'll investigate." Ami unfortunately had to remind her friend, "But you have other commitments."

"You're not serious." Makoto balked, "I'm going with you."

"We can handle it." Ami assured her, "You have a mission of your own."

"I doubt even Minako would label teaching a bunch of clueless men the difference between sauté and puree as a mission." Makoto argued.

"Fine, then. Call it something else." Ami mediated, "A date?"

"Yeah, right." Makoto rolled her eyes, "Let's not read too far into this, Ami-chan." Makoto gathered her coat from the chair as she prepared to leave and her gaze drifted up slowly to Ami where she still sat behind the computer softly smiling, "Are you… okay?"

"Mako-chan, I'm fine." Ami assured her and stood up politely to walk her to the doorway, "I'm not sad and you shouldn't be either. It was the right time to tell you."

"Ami…" Makoto sighed and wrapped her petite friend in a bear hug once more.

Ami squeaked at the force of it, but warmly endured. After, opened the door and Makoto backed her way out, still confused by what she had been told, but visibly anxious about her "mission."

"We're not done talking about this." Makoto told her in a playfully stern voice.

Ami merely nodded in reply and seconds later closed the door as Makoto entered the elevator at the end of the hallway. She smiled softly to herself and a wistful tear stained the light cream carpet of her silent apartment.

"Yes we are."

* * *

The following morning a small coffee shop, a local favorite in the Azabu-Juuban area, was bustling with activity. A barista placed his customer's order on the counter (Turkish style with a hint of pistachio) and then swiped the credit card. After a moment of processing he indicated where to sign on the LCD screen.

Kaden had signed his name to loan applications, hotel registries, and extravagant dinner bills more times than he could recall (which was troubling for someone with an eidetic memory) without much thought, but today it halted him in his tracks. Kaden _wasn't_ his name. Sure he was born with it and he would doubtless continue to use it in his daily life to respond when a colleague addressed him from across the conference table, or take pleasure when it was moaned in ecstasy, or— wait… where the hell did _that_ come from?

"Sir?" the barista asked politely.

Kaden looked up at him with silver-gray eyes that caused needles to shiver up the young man's spine.

"D—did you want cash back?" he asked and hoped the tall, broad-shouldered, frightening man with shock-white hair and a slim dark suit on the other side of the counter wasn't, as he feared, a government assassin.

"Sorry." Kaden apologized and signed his name to the screen.

He sighed inwardly; nothing for it now. His mind was already running late this morning which was an extremely rare occurrence itself. He turned and began to walk across the tiny coffee shop to a waiting seat when a gust of wind hit him as new customers entered through the front door. His black top coat which stretched down to the top of his calves filled with rushing air and billowed out behind him. He never buttoned it for this explicit reason – he enjoyed the way the fabric twisted and flapped in the breeze and lent even greater volume to his already striking silhouette. He loved overcoats. They reminded him of a cape he used to wear. That thought brought him back to the one that had halted him at the Starbucks counter moments earlier: his name was supposed to be Kaden, but lately signing it and speaking it was feeling more and more like a lie.

Kunzite was returning and Kaden wasn't sure if he was ready for, or even _wanted_, that person to re-emerge from whatever psychological limbo he'd been living in for the past few years. He wasn't sure if it was finding Mamoru that triggered such an awakening, but thinking back over the past few days Kaden had to concede Zora a victory in one observation: he was afraid of his own power. Or rather, he was afraid of his _lack_ of power.

The memory of his return to mortality was always fresh; how could punishing desert heat and coarse blasts of sandy wind against one's naked body not still be vivid years later? The first thing Kaden attempted to do when he regained life was to call on his magic to provide him with, among other things, clothes, and a swift teleportation to more pleasant climates. Unfortunately when he reached into the familiar well of strength that powered his magic he found it not only dry, but completely absent. He reeled from the shock after having spent much of his previous two lives relying on his superhuman abilities even for mundane tasks. It was for that reason, a guilty, embarrassing need to conceal his weakness, that he forbade his fellow knights from accessing their own powers. If they suffered the same lack of magic that he did for the last few years they did so in silence, but he knew his command would be followed to the letter and doubted if Jiro, Zora and Neil ever even tried.

Now, however, a familiar static charge danced at Kaden's fingertips and he forced all of his concentration into reigning in the energy that was actively trying to explode from his body. He hurried to the tiny table in the corner, set down his coffee, jumped into a chair and tightly folded his hands together under the table, out of sight, willing with all his might for the energy to fade back into the well it sloshed out of in the first place. Slowly the tingling power dwindled and the color began to return to Kaden's face.

"Are you okay?" Minako asked from where she sat across from him.

"Of course." He lied and fidgeted trying to make the reappearance of his clenched fists from under the table seem natural.

"You're whiter than usual today." Minako told him cheekily and sipped her drink which started out as coffee before a landslide of sugar and syrups and additives transformed it into something Kaden couldn't even put his nose to without gagging.

"It's unseasonably chilly." Kaden replied and grabbed his black, boring cup of Turkish blend.

"You don't get cold." Minako reminded him.

"Perks of having a heart of ice." He smiled.

"Have you ever seen _Frozen_?" she asked suddenly.

"No…" Kaden was confused, "What's—"

"It's a Disney movie." Minako explained excitedly, "I think you'd like it!"

"Disney?" Kaden repeated and was taken slightly aback by the suggestion, "You mean the cartoon company?"

"Kaden!" Minako snapped and several heads in the coffee shop spun to glare at her, "Disney movies are _not_ mere cartoons!"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" he tried to calm the outburst and forced her back down in her seat.

"Honestly!" she huffed, "Next you're going to tell me that anime are just cartoons too!" she looked down at him and he simply shrugged in ignorance, "My gosh, what kind of childhood did you have?!"

"I didn't really watch movies or anime, Minako." Kaden told her, "I was busy search—"

"—Searching for your Master, yes, I know." She talked over him, "I spent my first year as Sailor V searching for Usagi while pretending to be the Moon Princess and I still found time for Netflix."

Kaden didn't recognize that last word, but he nevertheless said, "Well… you're a goddess."

"I can't tell if that's supposed to be flattery or if you're just stating fact." She led him, but Kaden was still a bit shaken from his barely contained surge of magic and only nodded in response.

There was another possibility for that episode, he suddenly realized. Perhaps it wasn't serving Mamoru again that opened the floodgates and allowed Kunzite's power to return. Perhaps it was being around _Her_…

"So how did the guys react to your restaurant idea?" Minako redirected the conversation.

"It's evolved a bit." Kaden answered, "It's now a bar and grill."

"A bar and grill, huh?" Minako thought, "So is that like a steak and martini kind of place?"

"I think Jiro and Neil are leaning more towards an American roadhouse sort of aesthetic." Kaden revealed, "So less fine dining and more, um... food and booze."

"Sounds like Neil." Minako surmised.

"Mmm-hmm." Kaden mumbled into his coffee.

"What about Zora?"

"He's not so enamored with the prospect of having an actual job, so his contributions have been minimal." He explained.

"That's odd." Minako pondered, "I always assumed he was the one who was the most on the ball."

"What would ever make you think that?" Kaden chuckled.

"Well, I mean…" Minako spoke slowly hoping Kaden would make the connection himself. When he didn't she reminded him, "Zoisite took on all the Sailor Guardians at the same time and won. Twice."

Kaden's shoulders slumped and he shook his head down and away with an exasperated sigh.

"What?" Minako prodded.

"Do you have to bring something from that time up whenever we talk?" Kaden grumbled.

"Listen, Old Man." Minako spoke and Kaden instantly straightened up, stunned, "You've got to get over it."

"_Old Man_?" he seethed.

"Do you know how hard it was for me to even say hello to you after everything that happened?" Minako asked, "There are plenty of things I regret, but you can't keep burying the past."

"It's not buried." Kaden argued, "It's always there; right at the surface. I simply choose not to draw attention to it at every given possibility."

"That's all well and good, but you're still letting it control you." She observed.

"If anyone is being controlled by their past I'd say it was you." Kaden accused, "Since it seems to be all you want to talk about."

"Only because you don't!" Minako shot back.

"Minako, the reason I don't want to talk about the past is because my last, most vivid memories of the Dark Kingdom are of _you_." Kaden finally admitted in exasperation, "You were kneeling across from me in a dreary cavern tearful, beaten and bloodied. Your face was twisted in horror at the realization that Queen Metalia was about to effortlessly kill us all after everything you'd done to save us."

"But you see? That shouldn't be your last memory of the Dark Kingdom." Minako tried to assuage him, "It should be when you returned to Endymion, healed and pure, and showed him how to defeat Queen Metalia!"

"I gave my life to Prince Endymion." Kaden explained, "I gave my heart to you. And it broke to see you weep. The pain of losing my life was a kindness in comparison."

"And here you are." Minako looked him over, "Living and breathing, heart in one piece. You don't have to cling so tightly to that pain."

"That's why I don't talk about it." Kaden repeated and shook his head, "You never did understand that."

"What?" Minako asked innocently.

"That I don't need to talk about my problems in order to work through them." Kaden barked, "Everyone on this planet has problems they need to deal with. They don't need to hear about _mine_ on top of it."

"Except those of us whose job it is to help people." Minako pointed out.

"I don't _want_ your help, Minako!" Kaden shouted and several other patrons of the coffee shop jumped in alarm. He calmed himself and clenched his eyes shut, "That… came out wrong."

"I'd say it came out just right." Minako replied evenly. Her voice didn't waver but Kaden could detect the undercurrent of shock and resentment.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, "I just…"

"This was a mistake." Minako said and glowered at the table. She absentmindedly turned her cup of coffee in a circle with her thumb and forefinger, "It's too soon. I _knew_ it would be too soon…"

"What is?" Kaden was lost.

"I rushed into this." She sounded defeated, "I shouldn't have kissed you."

"Well…" Kaden stalled hoping for something profound to say, "I disagree."

She laughed ruefully, "Of course you do."

"Let's go for a walk." Kaden stood up and grabbed his coffee in one move.

"Why?" Minako asked puzzled.

"Because I think these people are sick of hearing us." He answered and gestured to the other customers in the shop.

She hesitated for a moment before finally conceding, "Fine."

Kaden moved for the front door and held it open for Minako as she exited. The brisk winter wind hit them immediately and Kaden's coat flared out again. Catching a glimpse of the garment Minako couldn't help but picture the man as a knight once more: jacket crisp, armor polished, cape flapping the breeze. Similarly the wind caught her river of golden hair and Kaden envisioned her not as a princess, but the soldier of love and beauty standing at the head of her Guardians. They walked in silence for ten minutes before finally happening upon a small park and a conveniently vacant bench beneath a hibernating flowering dogwood tree.

Kaden sat down and took a long sip of his coffee while he tried to think of a way to diplomatically continue their conversation. Minako sat down as well, the space between them a chasm, and beat him to the first word.

"How's your coffee?" she asked.

"Cold. And bitter." He grimaced, "Just like me."

"Good try." She congratulated, "But stop trying to make me laugh."

"Okay then." Kaden agreed, "What were you expecting would happen after you kissed me?"

"I don't know." Minako replied, "Not this."

"This?" he repeated, "Talking?"

"Confusion." She corrected, "Yelling. The past. All of it."

"To be fair, you brought up the past." Kaden reminded her.

"Yeah, well to be fair that's what I think of when I look at you." She answered and turned to face him. She shivered under his gaze, "My god, it's like you're _Him_ and you're not."

"This was never about me and coming to terms with the Dark Kingdom was it?" Kaden inferred.

"I don't know what I'm doing." Minako confessed and her fingernails squeezed indentations into her coffee cup, "But Usagi…"

"What about her?"

"She could tell I was nervous about … _you_." Minako revealed, "She said I didn't have anything to worry about, but I told her that a miracle romance like she has with Mamoru wasn't something that happens to everyone."

"Fair enough." Kaden approved.

"But of course she's Usagi." Minako smiled tenderly, "She gets under your skin."

"She convinced me that meeting you was no big deal and that everything would work out. So I thought maybe, _just maybe,_ there would be a chance that when I saw you, when our eyes met, and if I ran into your arms and kissed you that…" she very nearly trailed off, "… that things would happen for us the way they did for Usagi and Mamoru."

"Didn't you just say you told Usagi that you weren't interested in a fairytale romance?" Kaden wondered.

"Of course I _told_ her that." Minako rolled her eyes at his occasional density, "But do you really think me of all people doesn't have a Disney princess fantasy every now and then?"

"There's that Disney reference again." Kaden sighed.

"Shut up, you don't know what you're missing." Minako pouted.

"Apparently I'm missing unrealistic relationship expectations." Kaden only slightly joked.

"I know, I know, shut up." Minako's face began to take on a bright reddish hue, "It's naïve and childish and I'm embarrassed enough the way it is. I don't even know what to say when I look at you now. I don't even know if I _should_."

"Minako, I'm not angry with you or anything." Kaden said unsure as to the direction this conversation was turning, "I don't think it's childish to want to return to the kind of relationship we used to have."

"And what kind was that?" she lanced a question straight through his heart.

"You know the answer to that." He dodged.

"I fell in love with you; that's all I know." She told him, "But I don't even remember _how_ or _why_. All I have is a feeling. And a memory."

"What are our lives if not just a collection of feelings and memories?" Kaden asked philosophically.

"I'm used to being confident in what I feel and what I do." Minako explained, "Especially when it comes to matters of love. I'm a soldier of love; I was a _goddess_ of love…"

"When I became Sailor V I remembered everything." She continued, "Adonis told me that I would always choose duty over love, but he never knew that I'd met someone with the same curse."

As Kaden listened his mind wandered back to the green fields of his ancient home. He remembered the day the Sailor Guardians came down to Earth once again chasing their wayward princess, but this time they were intercepted by a quartet of knights. He had arranged the "chance" encounter along with his beloved Venus: a chance for acquaintances to be made away from the prying eyes of their kingdoms.

"With Kunzite I had found someone who, like me, saw love and duty as one in the same." Minako persisted, "As Sailor V I knew you were deep within the Dark Kingdom and I vowed to find you and set you free."

"Which you did." Kaden assured her.

"But then you were gone!" she snapped, "After everything we did to try and save you we still couldn't stop Queen Metalia! Not even Usagi and the Silver Crystal could bring you back. And when I heard you whisper from beyond, "_Don't cry, your princess needs you!"_ and "_You still have a mission to complete_," I knew you were saying goodbye. So I had to accept that and I learned to live without you…"

"And now…" Kaden steadied himself.

"Now you're back." She finished, "And I don't know what it means." Minako looked up at him, eyes glassy, "In the end I _did_ choose duty over love."

"There was nothing you could have done to bring me back." Kaden guaranteed her, "Your only choice was to move forward."

"No." she said plainly, "I could have chosen not to abandon hope. I could have believed in what my heart yearned for, that one day you might somehow find your way back from… wherever you were. But I chose to silence my heart, to accept that _this_ was what my destiny had always been: standing forever at my Princess' side, but with no one at mine."

"Please, Minako." Kaden reached forward and laid a hand on her slender, deadly arm, "There's no reason for you to feel like you abandoned anything or made the wrong decision. You've done amazing things in your life; don't let me be the thing that makes you question yourself."

"What should we do?" Minako asked and swung her head down miserably, "Where do we go from here?"

"I think coffee was a good start." Kaden nudged her.

"Don't make fun of me."

"I wasn't." Kaden reassured her, "You think this is any easier for me? I was dead, at least I had an excuse to be so nervous, but you? You're the leader of the Sailor Senshi! You face down Chaos itself! You're a rock star, Minako."

"And you were a rock. Literally." She giggled at that, "Maybe that's what I'll call you instead of Old Man. I'll call you The Rock."

"That's marginally better, I suppose." Kaden forced a smile.

"And you can call me Hard Place." She announced.

"What?" Kaden asked utterly confounded, "Why?"

"Because there's always something getting stuck between us." Minako revealed and took a drink of her long forgotten coffee.

Kaden hesitated a moment, but eventually worked up the necessary nerve impulses to snake his arm up across the back of the bench to rest slightly atop Minako's shoulders.

"Those are terrible nicknames." He candidly observed.

"But you love them." She sing-songed in reply.

He did.

* * *

The roar of the earth moving equipment muffled Jiro's approach on the opposite sidewalk from where construction was commencing on the new building which would replace the destroyed Crown Arcade. Neil watched the machines in contemplative silence from where he was perched against a panel fence encircling a neighboring residence. He was seated on a large rolling cooler which Jiro assumed contained more cans of the same beer clutched in his companion's meaty fist.

"You know, you're not supposed to drink in public." Jiro greeted him.

"Who's it hurting?" Neil returned.

"Good point." Jiro responded after a moment of silent pondering.

Neil stood and retrieved a beer for his friend and the two took up positions leaning against the fence as they watched the construction unfold. Dusk was coming on rapidly as the fires of the evening sky between the distant skyscrapers began to smother into the gray of twilight. Jiro yawned long and loud, stretching and spilling a few drops of his beer in the same motion. Neil didn't join in. He was the only person he'd ever met for whom yawns weren't contagious.

"Busy day?" Jiro said. He nodded to himself for no other reason than that he could.

"Oh yeah." Neil half-assedly agreed and took a swig of his brew.

"What did you get up to?" asked Jiro.

"You're looking at it." Neil replied.

"You've just been sitting on the streets drinking beer all day?"

"I bought a twenty-four pack and our refrigerator blew up along with our house." Neil elaborated, "I didn't want it to get warm."

"Hence the cooler?" Jiro asked.

"Hence the cooler."

"You know…" continued the blonde, "You could've just bought less beer."

"Why in God's name would I do that?" Neil was honestly offended.

"Just a suggestion."

"Yeah, I'll just get a twelve ounce steak instead of the sixteen ounce. I'm watching my svelte figure." Neil rolled his eyes and rolled back another draught.

"There you are!" a third voice angrily approached.

"Speaking of svelte." Neil burped.

"Where have you two been all day?" Zora demanded in a huff, "I've been trying to call you!"

"I had my phone turned off." Jiro answered, "I was meditating."

"Yeah?" he seemed unimpressed and turned to Neil, "What's your excuse?"

"I was ignoring you." Neil answered squarely.

"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Zora grumbled.

"Shut up, I'm in mourning." Neil returned and finished his beer off in a gulp.

"So you sit out on the street just swilling booze all day?" Zora screeched, "You're coping so well!"

"I'm not actually mourning, you idiot." Neil insulted and fished two more cans of beer out of his cooler, "I'm supervising construction."

"You getting paid for that?" Zora sassed.

"You getting paid to be a bitch?" Neil sassed back and extended his hand.

"I don't want your shitty beer." Zora turned his nose up.

"Come on Zora, lighten up!" Jiro invited him, "What's so important that you were trying to call us for?"

Zora reluctantly took the beer and slumped against the fence as well, "Like you care."

"Hey, we're at least putting forward the _possibility_ for caring." Neil pointed out.

"Fine." He whined, "I went to visit Mamoru this afternoon."

"Social activity!" Neil clinked his beer can against Zora's, "Good for you!"

"Listen you ass!" Zora chastised him, "I'm trying to tell you that while he's in the hospital Usagi has been staying with her parents since it's a shorter commute."

"Good for her?" Jiro wondered.

"The point is: she and Mamoru told us that we can stay in their apartment until he's cleared to go home!" he finished giddily, "Isn't that great?!"

"But I just got comfortable here!" Neil mock pouted.

"By all means you can remain a vagrant." Zora exclaimed, "I'm sure our Master would appreciate coming home to an apartment that didn't smell like a diseased farm animal."

"You know, I'd shower more often if it didn't take you three frigging hours a day." Neil accused.

"I does not!" Zora declared.

"With all the fussing and the primping and the _goddamned_ _hair_!" His adversary spat.

"Oh you can't even accuse me, you shit!" Zora countered, "It's like pulling a small dog out of the drain after you wash that ridiculous mess on your head!"

"And yet somehow it only takes me fifteen minutes." Neil combed a hand through his woodsy locks for effect.

"I'll never understand you guys and your long hair." Jiro interjected.

"I'll never understand why you _wouldn't_ want to look like a complete badass." Neil gasped.

"Oh my god." Zora's face drained of all color, "Do you think Kaden will make us cut our hair for the restaurant?"

"Bar and grill." Jiro corrected.

"Do you think he'll make us wear _hair nets_?!" Zora nearly sobbed in his growing hysteria.

"Nah." Neil dismissed the concern, "Whitey's balls aren't _that_ big."

"How big are they?" Kaden asked, appearing seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Gah!" Jiro shrieked and jumped away from the fence, "How the hell do you _do_ that?"

"Fearless Leader! How nice of you to join us." Neil welcomed him as his voice took on a painfully forced Russian inflection, "Come, comrade. Have a brewski."

"Oh. Beer. Who would've thought?" Kaden accepted and took up the last vacant position against the fence.

"So?" Zora squealed expectantly, "How was your date?"

"It was…" Kaden chose his words carefully, "Not… bad…"

"Thrilling." Neil commented.

"You didn't correct me." Zora chuckled, "So you admit that it _was_ a date?"

"No, I just don't have the energy to argue semantics with you right now." Kaden replied with a long stretch of his arms above his white head.

"What did you guys do?"

"We drank coffee and then we went to a park." Kaden answered, "And we talked about Disney movies."

"Jesus Christ." Even Neil had to turn to glare at that summary.

"What the hell are you, eight years old?!" Zora strained against his laughter, "Did you play in the sandbox too?"

"Be about the only box he's playing with." Neil crudely remarked.

"I'm giving you the abbreviated version because my personal life isn't any of your business." Kaden replied and cracked the tab on his beer, "And because I don't want to make you jealous."

"Ooh. Shots fired." Jiro cooed.

"I'm not jealous!" Zora immediately shot back.

"It's alright, Zora." Neil consoled him, "Kaden was never interested in you to begin with."

"None of us were." Jiro joined in.

"Huh." Zora snorted, "Your fucking loss."

Neil leaned over to whisper in Kaden's ear, "You know the worst part is he's probably right."

"Could you stop?" Kaden grumbled.

A tremendous crash called their attention as across the street the crane operator at the construction site accidentally knocked a bundle of steel conduit against an upright beam and scattered the lengths of metal tube across the ground. A chorus of "Woah!" rose up from the assembled crowd of four followed by Neil's call of, "Just put that anywhere!"

As Kaden watched the workers scramble about he became acutely aware of how the rocky start of construction on their new home and business venture mirrored the shaky beginnings of his new relationship with Minako. _Rock and a Hard Place_. He snickered to himself.

"Yep." He finally said and took a long drink of his beer and put one foot up against the fence behind him.

"Yep." Zora agreed.

"Yeeeeep." Jiro drawled.

"Mmm-hmm." Neil finished.

He swore somewhere above the din of the city he heard the unmistakable twang of a slide guitar adding the final punctuation to their monosyllabic dialogue.


End file.
